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Reprinted from Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. IX. 


The Methodist Missions Among the 
Indian Tribes in Kansas. 


Written for the Kansas State Historical Society by Rev. J? J. Lutz, of Eagle Lake, Minn. 


T HE only white men who inhabited what is now the state of Kansas prior 
to its territorial organization, besides the Indian agents and the at¬ 
taches of the agencies, were traders and trappers, the soldiers in the forts, 
and the missionaries among the Indians. 1 The story of the missionary op¬ 
erations among the various tribes inhabiting what is now the great state of 
Kansas forms an interesting chapter in Kansas history. 

Previous to the year 1824, the date of the establishment of the Osage mis¬ 
sion in Neosho county by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Miisions, there had been apparently no mission station among the Indian 
tribes of Kansas. The principal missions formed by the various denomina¬ 
tions other than Methodist were the following: The Shawnee Baptist mis¬ 
sion, 1831; Ottawa Baptist mission, by Rev. Jotham Meeker, 1837; 2 and the 
Kickapoo Catholic mission, 1836. 3 This denomination had two other impor¬ 
tant missions, that among the Osages, on the Neosho river, and that among 
the Pottawatomies, at St. Marys. The Shawnee Friends’ mission was or¬ 
ganized in 1834, 4 and that of the Sac and Fox, by the Presbyterian church, 
at Highland, Doniphan county, in 1837. 5 

The Missouri conference of the Methodist Episcopal church was held in 
St. Louis September 16, 1830, Bishop Robert R. Roberts presiding. The 
city at that time contained a population of but 5000. This session was 
memorable by reason of the action taken in regard to the mission work 
among the Indian tribes of Kansas. The missionary spirit and the mis¬ 
sionary society in the conference received a wonderful impetus at this ses¬ 
sion. The following is the preamble to the constitution of the society as 
then formed: 

“The members of the Missouri conference, considering the great neces¬ 
sity for missionary exertions, and feeling a willingness to aid in the great 
work of sending the Gospel among all people, form themselves into a mis¬ 
sionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church,” etc. 

This was not a missionary society as we have it now, supported by the 
entire church; but the men of the Missouri conference, some of whom re¬ 
ceived less than forty dollars a year, resolved to contribute a part of their 
very limited means toward sending the Gospel to those who were in still 
greater need. The call to mission work among the Indians was heard and 
answered, and the devoted brothers, Thomas and William Johnson, entered 


Note 1.— See T. S. Huffaker’s letter of October 30, 1905, in this volume, p. 129. 


Note 2 — Rev. Isaac McCoy’s “History of Baptist Indian Missions,” Washington, 1840; also 
y.; Q mnnuserint diary and correspondence, and the diary and correspondence of Jotham Meeker, 
fet“^ the HistoS Society's library ; Kansas Historical Collections, vol. 1-2, p. 271. 

Note 3. — See, also, this volume, p. 19 ; also vol. 8, p. 83. 


Note 4 — See Kansas Historical Collections, vols. 7 and 8, indexes, for history of Friends’ 
Indian missions in Kansas; also, Harvey’s History of the Shawnee Indians, Cincinnati, 1855. 

Note 5 — For other missions of this denomination, see note, p. 20, this volume ; also, the Re¬ 
ports of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the files of the Missionary Herald, 
Boston, 1824-’37. 



2 


c 7% 



REV. THOMAS JOHNSON, 

For twenty-six years missionary among the Shawnee and other Indian tribes of Kansas; 
one of the prominent names in American Methodism of his day. 


what became their life-work among the Indians. The Missouri conference 
at this date contained but twenty-nine members. 

The missionary appointments for the year 1830 read: “ Shawnee Mission, 
Thomas Johnson/’ 6 “Kanzas or Kaw Mission, Wm. Johnson.” For the 

Note 6.— Rev. Thomas Johnson was born in Virginia July 11, 1802. When comparatively 
young he came to Missouri. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1826, 
and was appointed to Mount Prairie, Ark. In 1828 he was received into full connection and was 
appointed to Fishing River. For the year 1829 he was on Buffalo circuit, and at the next confer¬ 
ence, 1830, was appointed to the Shawnee Mission, which was in the Missouri district. Rev. Alex. 
McAlister, presiding elder. He served as superintendent of the Shawnee Mission till 1841, when 
he resigned on account of failing health. He moved with his family to Cincinnati, where he 
spent nearly two years under medical treatment, after which he returned to Missouri and secured 
a home near Fayette, Howard county. Having regained his health, he was, in the fall of 1847, 
reappointed to the manual-labor school, in which capacity he served till the breaking up of the 
school, in 1862. In 1858 he settled two miles east of Westport, Mo. In 1853 a territorial govern- 

D. of P. 

JAN 3 1918 







3 


years 1832 and 1833 there were four Indian missions in Kansas, comprising 
the Indian missionary district. In 1833 and 1834 it was called the north In¬ 
dian mission district; the southern district embracing the Indian missions in 
what is now Indian Territory. In the year 1832 missions were organized in 
four other tribes—among the Delawares, Peorias, Iowas, and Sacs and 
Foxes. In 1833 the Kickapoo mission was established, and in 1838 the Pot¬ 
tawatomie. 

THE SHAWNEE MISSION. 

We shall first describe the work among the Shawnees, as that was the 
most ambitious attempt of our church to care for the Indians of Kansas, 
and Shawnee Mission, by reason of its location at the entrance to the terri¬ 
tory for emigrants from the East and the part it played in the territorial 
history, became a place of peculiar interest. 

The Shawnee reservation embraced a tract of 1,600,000 acres, described 
in the treaty of May 10, 1854, as follows: 

“ Beginning at a point in the western boundary of the state of Missouri, 

ment was organized for Kansas and Nebraska, and in the fall of that year Mr. Johnson was 
elected as delegate to Congress by Indian votes. He went to Washington, but the territory was 
not organized and he was not received as a delegate. The Washington Union spoke of him as 
“Rev. Thomas Johnson, a noble specimen of Western man.” In March, 1855, he was elected to 
the Kansas territorial council on the pro-slavery ticket, and on its sitting was elected president 
of the council. His son Alex. S. Johnson was elected a member of the house for the same legis¬ 
lature, and was the youngest member—only twenty-three years of age. While Mr. Johnson was 
Southern born and reared, and his ancestors Southern, it was natural that he should have Southern 
and pro-slavery sympathies, but when he was called upon to decide between union and secession 
Mr. Johnson’s patriotism proved superior to all sectional and social ties, and he took his stand on 
the side of the Union. On the night of January 2, 1865. he was assassinated, at his home near 
Westport, by guerrillas. Mr. Johnson was married September 7, 1829, to Miss Sarah T. Davis, of 
Clarksville, Mo. Their son. Colonel Johnson, said, in an interview with Judge Adams, that hia 
parents came to Kansas on their wedding journey. To them were born three sons and four 
daughters, Alexander Soule, who died recently, being the eldest; Andrew Monroe, whose death 
occurred more than three years ago; and William M., who lives at Red Clover, Johnson county,, 
with post-office at Rosedale, Kan. Eliza married John Wornal, and has been dead about thirty 
years. Laura married Frank Waterman; she has been dead many years. Cora married Harry 
Fuller, and lives in Washington city. Edna married Wm. J. Anderson, and lives with.her sister, 
Mrs. Fuller, in Washington city. 

Among William E. Connelley’s papers is a manuscript interview with E. F. Heisler, of Kan¬ 
sas City, Kan., in which the story of the assassination of Thomas Johnson is told, as follows : 
“ It is the common belief that Rev. Thomas Johnson was slain in his house at the Shawnee Mis¬ 
sion, in Johnson county, Kansas, and that his assassins were Kansas red legs. Mr. Heisler has 
gathered the proof that this belief is not in accord with the facts, which are as follows : John¬ 
son lived during the war in his house near Westport. It is now in the corporate limits of 
Kansas City, Mo., and not far from the magnificent home of William R. Nelson, owner of the 
Kansas City Star. He had a considerable sum of ready money, which he kept loaned out to his 
neighbors. When one loan of $1000 was about due, he went to the debtor and told him to have 
the money right on the day it was due, as he wished to use the money and must have it. The 
debtor had but $800, but he told Johnson he would pay the full $1000 the day it was due. He 
went about borrowing twenty-five dollars of one neighbor and fifty of another, always telling 
them he must have it to make up the $1000 he had to pay Johnson on a certain day. He made the 
payment promptly, and Johnson immediately loaned it to another man to whom he had promised 
a loan. No person other than Johnson and the person to whom he turned over the $1000 
knew of this last transaction. The community supposed Mr. Johnson had the money in the 
house. That night, about eleven o’clock, he was called up by a‘hello.’ Going to the door, he 
saw a group of horsemen in the road in front of his house. They said they wanted a drink of 
water. Johnson told them to go back to the kitchen, by the side of which they would find a 
well, and that a cup was hanging on a nail there; that they were welcome to help them¬ 
selves. This did not satisfy them. They said they were cold and wanted to come into the house 
and get warm. Johnson told them the household had been in bed some time and that the house 
was cold, and that he did not wish to make a fire and disturb all the family. He then closed the 
door, when the ruffians began to shoot. The bullets went through the door, and one of them 
penetrated the abdomen of Johnson, who died in a few minutes. Johnson’s son William was at 
home. Looking from the window of an upper-story he saw the horsemen and noted a white or 
gray horse. The family called out that Johnson was killed, and William Johnson fired on the 
murderers from the upper-story window. He heard one of the men say he * believed Bill was at 
home and it would be useless to go in, for they probably would not get the money anyway.’ The 
assassins then rode away. Some one had complained of William Johnson, and he was under orders 
from Major Ransom, Sixth cavalry, to remain at home until a certain day, when his matter 
would be inquired into. He went to Major Ransom on the day following the murder of his father 
and requested a body of soldiers and leave to go with them in search of the assassins. His re¬ 
quest was granted, and he was directed to be back against a certain day to have his matter dis¬ 
posed of, which he agreed to do. Young Johnson had some idea who the murderers were. The 
soldiers went with him to the neighborhood of where the man lived who had made the payment 




4 


three miles south of where said boundary crosses the mouth of Kansas river; 7 
thence continuing south and coinciding with said boundary for twenty-five 
miles; thence due west 120 miles; thence due north, until said line shall in¬ 
tersect the southern boundary of the Kansas reservation; thence due east, 
coinciding with the southern boundary of said reservation, to the termination 
thereof; thence due north, coinciding with the eastern boundary of said 
reservation, to the southern shore of the Kansas river; thence along said 
southern shore of said river to where a line from the place of beginning 
drawn due west shall intersect the same—estimated to contain sixteen hun¬ 
dred thousand acres, more or less/’ 8 

The tribe resided on the northeast corner of this vast tract, near Missouri 
and near the Kansas river. These lands lying in the vicinity of the larger 
streams afforded considerable bodies of good timber, interspersed with fertile 
prairies. This reservation had been assigned to the Shawnees by the treaty 
of 1825, and it would seem that the larger part of the tribe had congregated 
here by 1830, 9 their most populous settlement being in Wyandotte county south 


of $1000. There Johnson saw a white horse in a field that reminded him of the one he noticed in 
front of the house on the night of the murder. They went to the man having it in charge. He 
told a crooked story of his possession of the horse. One of the soldiers drew his pistol, and said 
to him: * Tell us the truth ; tell us all about this matter; tell us now. If you refuse I will kill 
you. If you fail to tell the truth I will kill you when I return.’ The man then said that the horse 
had been left there by a certain person he named ; that there were with him certain other per¬ 
sons, whom he named ; that the horse gave out and could go no further ; that they left it there 
and took one of his; that they made it plain that they would kill him if he made these things 
known. They also told him where they had been and what they had done, saying that if it be¬ 
came known that they had done this deed it would be by his telling it, and he would be killed. 
With this information the soldiers went in pursuit of the assassins. All of them were killed 
except one. They had to return to Johnson’s trial before the last one was found. They were 
citizens of Jackson county, Missouri, and some of them were Quantrill’s men. The whole matter 
was planned to get that $1000. William Johnson told thes* facts to Heisler. There can be no 
reasonable doubt of their accuracy.” 

Note 7. —This small piece of land south of the Kansas river, now a part of Kansas City, 
Kan., lying between the Missouri line and the Kansas river, which here makes an abrupt and ir¬ 
regular bend north before entering the Missouri river, was reserved, Wm. E. Connelley says, 
by the government for a military or other purpose, evidently at the time of Langham’s survey 
of the eastern portion of the Shawnee reservation boundaries, in 1828. Silas Armstrong after¬ 
wards covered the whole with his float, a diagram of which may be found in a book of the origi¬ 
nal surveys of Wyandotte county, the property of Mr. Connelley, on two pages, entitled ‘‘Map, 
being cause No. 1066, Wyandotte county district court.” 

Note 8.— Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treaties, vol. 2, p. 618. 

Note 9.— The following sketch of the Shawnee Indians is extracted from the article by F 
W. Hodge, of the Smithsonian Institution, in the Encyclopedia Americana, 1904, vol. 13 : “ Shaw¬ 
nee Indians (contracted from the Algonquian Shawanogi, ‘southerners’), an important tribe 
of the Algonquian stock of North American Indians, who, according to the best evidence, were 
originally an offshoot from the Lenape or Delawares, which migrated southward; hence their 
popular name. It is believed that they entered the present limits of the United States from the 
territory north of the great lakes via the lower peninsula of Michigan, various bands or divisions 
settling in southern Illinois, southern Ohio, and (the larger part) on Cumberland river. A por¬ 
tion of the latter drifted southeastward to the head waters of the Savannah, where they came in 
contact with the Cherokees and Catawbas, who forced them northward into Pennsylvania by 
1707, while those remaining on Cumberland river were driven away by combined Cherokees and' 
Chickasaws. They were first mentioned under the name Ouchaouanag, in 1648, as living to the 
westward of Lake Huron; later in the century they were found by La Salle in northern Illinois, 
while others were settled along the Ohio and the Cumberland, and, indeed, had extended into 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and even as far south as Mobile, Ala., in the country of 
the Creeks. They were at war with numerous tribes at various periods, as well as with the 
French, and later with the United States, from the beginning of the French and Indian war 
until about 1795, during which time they had concentrated north of the Ohio river. Anthony 
Wayne’s victory, followed by the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, terminated the hostilities of the 
Indians of the Ohio valley region, a considerable part of the Shawnees moving to Missouri, within 
Spanish territory, while a few years later others migrated to White river, Indiana [Missouri?] 
on invitation of the Delawares.” 

The history of the removal of the Shawnees to Kansas has never been fully written, but the 
following notes and extracts throw some light on their emigration: 

The treaty of 1825, though providing for the entire Shawnee nation, was made with the 
Cape Girardeau band of Shawnees, who moved to Kansas as soon as their lands were selected in 
the winter of 1825-26, settling in Wyandotte county, south of the Kansas river. Mrs Jackson 
grandmother of Mrs. David C. de Shane, made this statement to Wm. E. Connelley, in January! 
1897. She was then living, at the age of 125 years, as she claimed, bedfast, in the family of David c! 
de Shane, on the mixed Seneca and Shawnee reserve, about two miles from Seneca, Mo She 
said the Delawares and Shawnees began crossing the Mississippi river when Pontiac was fight¬ 
ing at Detroit. They gradually increased by emigration until the Spanish governor at St. Louis 



5 


of the Kansas river. Among the earliest comers appears to have been the 
prophet, 10 brother of the great Tecumseh, who made his home near the 
present town of Turner. 

In the year 1835 the Rev. Isaac McCoy describes the condition of the 
Shawnees as follows : 

“Generally their dwellings are neat, hewed log cabins, erected with their 
own hands, and within them a small amount of furniture. Their fields are 
enclosed with rail fences; are sufficiently large to yield them corn and 

allotted them land near Cape Girardeau, where they continued to live for some time, whin, be¬ 
cause of hostile whites, they abandoned the reservation to live with the Delawares, on the James 
river, in what is now the southern part of Greene county, Missouri, from whence they moved to 
Kansas. She, being- a widow with children, waited until 1828, in order that the first emigrants 
would have corn grown. 

“ In 1824 proposals were made by the United States commissioners to the Shawanoes of Wa- 
paughkonetta, in Ohio, to move westward of Mississippi river. These proposals were not ac¬ 
ceded to at the time. Nevertheless, without any special interference of our government, and it 
is believed contrary to the advice of white men who might be supposed to have considerable in¬ 
fluence among them, and whose private interest it was that the Indians should remain in Ohio, 
about one-third part of them moved off in a body, in October, 1826, to the Western country which 
had previously been offered them.”—McCoy’s Remarks on Indian Reform, Boston, 1827, p. 37; 
see, also, Howe’s Historical Collections of Ohio, vol. 1, p. 294. 

“The Wapaughkonetta band moved from Auglaize county, Ohio, to Kansas in 1832, in care 
of James B. Gardiner, leaving their old homes September 20,” and reaching the Shawnee reser¬ 
vation in Kansas about Christmas time, having suffered much from cold and hunger. The Hog 
Creek band were moved from the same locality to Kansas in the summer of 1833, under the care 
of Joseph Parks, in safety and without suffering.—Henry Harvey’s History of the Shawnee In¬ 
dians, 1855. pp. 230-233. 

‘‘Latterly they had chiefly congregated at and near Wapaughkonetta, twenty-nine miles 
north of Piqua, from whence they finally emigrated southwest of Missouri in 1826 and 1833. The 
Shawanese were divided into four tribes, viz., the Chillicothe, Mequochake, Piqua, and Kisco- 
pokee. Tecumtha was of the last-named tribe, and, on account of their restless, warring pro¬ 
pensities, this tribe numbered very few fighting men when they left Ohio. The prophet, 
Elsquatawa, was a twin brother of Tecumtha, a man void of talent or merit, a brawling, mis¬ 
chievous Indian demagogue.”—Col. John Johnston, in Cist’s Cincinnati Miscellany, 1845, vol. 2, 
p. 242. 


Note 10.—In the month of September, 1897, the Rev. Charles Bluejacket visited Wyandotte 
county for the purpose of searching for the grave of the prophet. Bluejacket had been absent 
twenty-five years, and the growth of trees and the cultivation of the white man had so changed 
the face of the country that after hours of effort he was unable to locate it. The prophet was 
buried a mile or so south or southwest of Argentine, near the Wyandotte county line. Catharine 
Prophet, probably a daughter, had for her allotment the southeast quarter and the southeast 
quarter of the northeast quarter of section 32, township 11 south, range 25 east. Because of ex¬ 
posure at the time. Bluejacket caught a cold, and died on the 29th of October following, in his 
eightieth year. Among the papers which the Kansas State Historical Society received from the 
family of the Rev. Isaac McCoy is the following account of the death of the prophet, written in 
1837, by Dr. J. A. Chute, of Westport, Mo.: 

“ In Nov. last there died in the country of the Shaw¬ 
nees, a few miles from this pt., the Shawnee prophet 
Tensqu[atawa], generally reputed to be a twin brother of 
Tecumseh. He had [been] sick several weeks, when he 
sent for a gentleman [connected with the Baptist mission 
to visit and prescribe for him. At the [same time with] 
this gentleman I also called to see him. I went accom¬ 
panied by an interpreter, who conducted me by a wind¬ 
ing path thfrough t]he woods till we descended a hill, at 
the bottom of which, s[eclud]ed apparently from all the 
world, was the ‘ Prophet’s town ’ [ ], or [4?] huts, built 

in the ordinary Indian style, constituted the entire settle¬ 
ment. The house of the prophet was not distinguished at 
all from the others. A low portico covered with bark, 
which we were obliged to stoop to pass under, was erected 
before it, & [a] half-starved dog greeted us with a growl 
as we entered. The interior of the house, which was 
lighted only by the half-open door, showed at the first 
view the taste of one who hated civilization. Two or three 
platforms built against the wall served the purpose of bed¬ 
steads, covered with blankets & skins. A few ears of corn 
and a quantity of dried pumpkins (a favorite dish of the 
Indians) were hanging on poles overhead ; a few imple¬ 
ments of savage domestic [ ], as wooden spoons & trays, 

pipes, &c., lay scattered about the floor, [every]thing in¬ 
dicating poverty. One corner of the room, cl[ose to an] apology for a fireplace, contained a 
platform of split [ ], elevated about a foot from the floor and covered with a blanket. This 

was the bed of the prophet. Here was fallen, savage greatness. I involuntarily stop[ped] for a 
moment to view in silence the spectacle of a man whose wo[rd] was once law to numerous tribes, 
now lying on a miserable pallet, dying in poverty, neglected by all but his own family. He that 
exalteth himself shall be abased. I approached him. He drew aside his blanket and discovered a 



TEN-SQUA-TA-WA. 
The prophet. 



6 


culinary vegetables plentifully. They keep cattle and swine, work oxen, 
and use horses for draught; and own some plows, wagons, and carts.” 11 

It was to the vicinity of the prophet’s town that the Rev. Thomas John¬ 
son followed the Indians, built a log house, and began his work as a mis¬ 
sionary among the sons of the forest, in 1830. The following letter, ad¬ 
dressed to the Rev. Jesse Greene, 12 presiding elder of the Missouri district, 


form emaciated in the extreme, but the broad proportions of which indicated that it had once 
been the seat of great strength. His countenance was sunken and haggard, but appeared it 
might have been fancy — to exhibit something of the soul within. I thought I could discover, 
spite of the guards of hypocrisy, something of the marks which pride, ambition and the work¬ 
ings of a dark, designing mind had stamped there. I inquired of his symptoms, which he related 
particularly, & then proposed to do something for his relief. He replied that^ he was willing to 
submit to medical treatment, but was just then engaged in contemplation, or study,’ as the in¬ 
terpreter called it, & he feared the operation of medicine might interrupt his train of reflection. 
He said his ‘study’ would occu[py] three days longer, after which he should be glad to see me 
again. Accordingly, in three days I repaired again to his cabin, but it was too late. He was 
speechless and evidently beyond the reach of human assistance. The same day he died. The 
hist[ory] of the prophet until the late war has been often told. When, in conjunction with 
his brother Tecumseh, he was plotting a union of all the Indian nations of the continent against 
the growing pow[er of] the U. S., & preached, as he alleged, with a direct communication [from] 
heaven, his influence was almost unbounded. Many tribes beside [the] Shawnees believed in him. 
but the charm was in a great [measure] broken by the disastrous result of the battle of Tippe¬ 
canoe. The Indians engaged in this battle with all the enthusiasm that [superstition could in¬ 
spire, assured by the prophet that he had power to change the powder of the whites to ashes. 
Tensquatawa, who possessed in an eminent degree that part of valor called prudence, placed 
himself [on] an eminence out of harm’s way and encouraged his men, singing and dancing to con¬ 
ciliate the favor of the G. S. [Great Spirit]. But all was vain. The Indians were killed in great 
numbers, and the reputation of the prophet sank, never again to rise. Since the war the prophet 
has not figured at all. He seems to have lived in obscurity, always keeping a small but de¬ 
creasing band around him. He maintained his character to the last, professing to hold continual 
intercourse with heaven, and opposing every encroachment of civilization upon the venerated 
customs of his forefathers. He hated the whites, their language, their religion, and their modes 
of life. He understood [English], it is said, but would never speak it. Nothing vexed him 
[more t]han the operations of the missions and their success in introducing the] Christian re¬ 
ligion & civilized arts. He was frequently known, [when] an assembly had met for worship, [to] 
stand before the door and interrupt the meeting by noise [some]times sinking the dignity of the 
prophet in very unbecoming acts to effect this purpose. Among his pretensions was that of 
skill in medicine, or rather in healing ; for I believe his means of cure was mostly conjuration and 
ceremonies deriving their efficiency from divine interposition. A Shawnee of intelligence and 
piety, yielding to the importunity of friends who had faith in the prophet, once called on him to 
administer relief to two of his children. Tens, told' him he would visit them, but he must first 
take time to dream. Accordingly he retired to his pallet, & after a nap, in which he communed 
with the Great S., he hastened to communicate the results of this revelation, assuring the 
parents that the prescriptions of the Deity himself must infallibly succeed. The children, how¬ 
ever, died, & the parents’ faith in the prophet was probably buried with them. He always main¬ 
tained that he should never die. Several times during his last sickness he swooned & was 
thought to be dead. He took advantage of these occasions and assured his followers that he 
actually died temporarily but was restored again by divine power. Why he should seek the aid of 
a white physician in his sickness seems rather mysterious. Perhaps, & I have thought it 
probable, the near approach of death caused his own spirit to quail, and pride for once gave way 
to fear, but further reflection on his weakness induced him to discard aid offered by one of a race 
he so heartily detested. The prophet held the rank of chief, and was regarded by his country¬ 
men as a man of talents, aside from his religious pretensions. All agree, however, in ranking 
him below Tecumseh, whose memory is still venerated by the Sh. [Shawnees] as the pride of the 
nation. Tensquat. was considered a good councillor, but I have frequently heard the Indians 
complain that he made too long speeches. They sometimes threw out remarks rather derogatory 
to his char, for sourcery, and some even openly call him a [fraud]. Some historians have said 
that Tecumseh & the prophet were twin brothers ; others that they and [a] third, called Kum. 
[Kumskaukau], were of one birth. But the true account, as I have derived it from some old S. 
Lsquaw?J who certainly must have known, is that Tecumseh was the oldest of the family, and that 
between him and Tens., who was one of two at a birth, a sister intervened.” 

Note 11.—Isaac McCoy’s Annual Register of Indian Affairs, vol. 1, 1835, p. 23. m . 


Note 12.—The establishment of missions among the Indian tribes of Kansas by the Metho¬ 
dist church was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Greene. If he was not the founder of the 
bhawnee and Kaw missions, in 1830, he was an important factor in their organization, being pre¬ 
siding elder of the district bordering on Kansas from 1828 to 1830. The organization of the mis- 
f 10 " a 7 s ° cie . ty , of , th , e Missiouri conference was largely due to Mr. Greene. His death occurred 
]juried at Drake s chapel, Henry county, Missouri. Mrs. Greene died March 21. 

n acher u at 1 ? h foTo nee , I ¥, 1Ssion deservin » notice is Mary Todd, who was born in 
AmPriL E TWv 12 *i ^Y hen f lx years of age she emigrated with her parents to 
Effisrnnal rh h f y m d m New York city, where they united with the old John Street Methodist 
Episcopal Church, the cradle of American Methodism. In 1838 she was appointed by the New 

i° e r re C a °chld re tV,^ e f UH a ™ lsslona J.y to . the Shawnee Indians. After a midwinter trip alone by stage 
she reached the old Shawnee Mission, a stranger in a strange land. While engaged in teaching 
in the mission she met Rev. Jesse Greene, presiding elder of the district, which included parts of 
M-o-, Iowa,, and Arkansas. At the mission, in June, 1839, in the presence of no white people 
Greene. 6 miSSlon family > but surrounded by her Indian pupils, she was married to Rev. P Jesse 




7 



by Indian Agent Vashon, 
tells something of the in¬ 
ception of our first Indian 
mission in Kansas: 13 


P 

b 


“Indian Agency, near 
Kansas, July, 1830. Rever¬ 
end Sir—I have the pleasure 
now to make the communi¬ 
cation which I promised 
when I had the happiness 
of conversing with you at 
my office on the subject of 
establishing a mission for 
the instruction of the chil¬ 
dren of the hapless portion 
of the human family en¬ 
trusted to my care in this 
art of my agency. I have 
een informed by Rev. Mr. 

Dodge, whom I had the 
pleasure to meet with a few 
days ago, at Harmony Mis¬ 
sion, 14 that the American 
Board of Foreign Missions 
will not have it in their 
power to comply with the 
application which I made 
through him for a mission¬ 
ary establishment at or near 
this place in less time proba¬ 
bly than two or three years, 
as they have a great many 
more applications than they 
can possibly comply with, 
and he therefore solicited 
me to request your earnest 
attention to the subject 
without delay. And I now 
have the pleasure to inform you that I have this day been requested by Fish, 
a Shawnee chief, also Wm. Jackson, a white man, raised with the Shaw- 
nees, to make application for the establishment of a mission among them 


REV. JESSE GREENE. 

One of the founders of the Indian missions, and for four¬ 
teen years connected with the mission work. 


Note 13.— “As we passed through the Shawanoe settlements adjoining the line of the state 
of Missouri, through the politeness of Maj. John Campbell, United States Indian agent, acting 
for the Shawanoes and Delawares, I had an interview in council with upwards of twenty Shawa- 
noes, on the subject of establishing a mission among them. The celebrated Shawanoe prophet, 
the brother of Tecumseh, who figured in the last war, was present, and, in behalf of the rest, 
responded to my remarks, professedly approving the proposition, though no doubt he secretly 
was opposed to everything like education or religion. They were desired to reflect on what I had 
proposed, and to be prepared to answer me, as I would repass their place on my way home. 

“A white man by the name of Fish, who had lived with the Shawanoes from a small boy, 
and was in all respects identified with them, had become a principal of a clan which had lived 
many years in the state of Missouri, and which was in a good degree civilized. I took Fish to the 
house of Capt. Anthony Shane, a half-breed, and who was the United States interpreter; and on 
his informing me that he and his party desired a school for the instruction of their youth, I as^ 
sured him that he should be furnished with one; and that, whatever might be the answer of the 
rest of the nation to my proposals, he might rely upon the establishment of a school for his party. 
I would immediately begin to make preparation for it, and on my return his wishes should be met 
with as little delay as possible. Two others of the party at the same time urged me to establish 
the school. 

“On the 22d of November I returned to this place, when Captain Cornstalk and Capt. Will¬ 
iam Perry, chiefs, met me, to deliver the decision of the nation, which was favorable to the 
establishment of the school proposed. These chiefs, however, and most of the Shawanoes, con¬ 
sented to my propositions rather through courtesy than on account of a desire really to enjoy the 
advantages of education. Like most Indians not much advanced in civilization, they felt little de 


Note 14.—This mission was established in 1821 among the Osages, in Vernon county. Mis' 
souri. — See Vernon County History, 1887, p. 144. 












8 



for the education of their 
children, and I most earn¬ 
estly solicit your attention 
to the subject. 

“Fish, the Shawnee 
chief, has a son by the name 
of Paschal, who was put to 
school when he was a boy. 
He can speak English very 
well. He is a sober, steady, 
moral, good man. He has 
an Indian family, and is in¬ 
dustriously employed in 
farming, and 1 think he 
would make the most effi¬ 
cient male interpreter that 
could be procured. Captain 
Shane, the Shawnee inter¬ 
preter, has a stepdaughter 
by the name of Nancy, who 
is a widow with one child. 
She speaks English very 
well, and is a woman of 
most excellent character, 
and, I think, much disposed 
to be pious. She has been 
brought up in the habits of 
civilized life entirely from 
her infancy, and I think bet¬ 
ter qualified for all the va¬ 
rious duties of a female 
interpreter than any other 
that I know of, and, if I am 
not greatly mistaken, will 
devoutly rejoice to have an 
opportunity of living once 
more under the influence of 
the Gospel. Captain Shane also has a son, who has been six months at the 
Choctaw academy in Kentucky, where I expect he will be again sent. 

“The vicinity of the smith shop, I think, would be the most judicious lo¬ 
cation that could be selected for the establishment of the missionaries. Mr. 
Harmon Davis, the smith for the Indians, is a man of most excellent moral 
character; he is a member of the church, and has a large and amiable family. 
His children are mostly daughters and nearly all grown. I feel convinced that 
no other situation in the country possesses as many advantages. I there¬ 
fore recommend it, in the strongest possible light, as the most judicious lo¬ 
cation that can be selected. . . . Geo. Vashon.” 


MRS. MARY GREENE. 

For two years a teacher, and for many years connected 
with missionary work. 


Of the first mission, established on the bluffs of the Kansas river, we have 
been able to learn but little. Joseph S. Chick, a prominent business man 
of Kansas City, Mo., and a son of Col. Wm. M. Chick, one of the pioneers of 
Kansas city, in a recent letter to Rev. Joab Spencer, of Slater, Mo., says: 
“I was at the old Shawnee Mission about three weeks, but failing to have 


sire for schools, and still less to hear preaching. With Fish and his party it was otherwise; they 
appreciated in a good degree the former, and were favorably inclined to the latter, and through 
them I had hoped that access could be successfully obtained to the main body of the nation. 
But, unfortunately for my plan, while I had been absent in the wilderness, the Rev. Mr. McAl¬ 
lister and the Rev. Thomas Johnson, of the Methodist denomination, visited the Shawanoes, and 
made similar propositions. The main body of the Shawanoes objected, ‘because/ they said, 
they intended to accept the proposals I had made them/ The result, however, was an agree¬ 
ment that the Methodists should establish a school with Fish’s party. In this matter I felt a 
disappointment which I couM not remedy; but I was still resolved to carryout the design of 
saing a misslon m the nation.” Isaac McCoy’s History of Baptist Indian Missions, 1840, 

p. 404. 






9 


school, I went home. The building as I remember was a two-story, double 
log house, with rooms about twenty feet square, with outhouses, smoke¬ 
house, chicken-house, etc. There was no teacher there at that time. There 
was a man by the name of Waugh 15 that had been a teacher, and was staying 
there at the time, but I do not recall any other. ’ ’ 

Rev. Lorenzo Waugh was appointed as missionary to the Shawnees, with 
Rev. Thomas Johnson, for the years 1837 and 1838; so this was about the 
time that Mr. Chick was at the old Shawnee Mission school. It was at the 
old Shawnee Mission that the late Col. Alexander S. Johnson was born, July 
11, 1832. His father, Rev. Thomas Johnson, was born in Virginia exactly 
thirty years before, July 11, 1802. 

At the conference of 1832 the first fruits of the two missions were reported 
by the Johnsons, nine white and thirty-one Indian members, which was con¬ 
sidered an encouraging beginning; so that the sum of $4800 was appro¬ 
priated that year to the Indian missions within the bounds of the conference. 

In the month of August, 1833, Bishop Soule had, on his way to the 
Missouri conference, held at Cane Hill, Ark., visited our Indian missions 
among the Delawares and Shawnees. The bishop spent a few days with 
Thomas and William Johnson in surveying the ground, with a view of ex¬ 
tending the mission work, and as a result he determined to establish two 
additional stations, one among the Peorias and the other among the Kicka- 
poos. The conference report for the year 1834 shows a total of 11 white 
and 380 Indian church members, in the four Indian missions in Kansas— 
the Shawnee, Delaware, Peoria, and Kickapoo. The report of the mission¬ 
ary society for 1834 16 has this to say of the Shawnees: 

“Some of the leading men who had considerable opposition to the Gospel 
are now cordially united in the work of reformation and the prospect is 
truly flattering. Upwards of sixty church members, some of whom are 
able to instruct their brethren in the things of God—school prospering.” 

The following letter, written by Rev. Thomas Johnson to Rev. Jesse 
Greene, is full of encouragement: 

“Shawnee Mission, February 17, 1834. 

“Dear Bro. Greene : We have great excitement in the Indian country; 
some of the leading men of the Shawnee nation have lately surrendered 
their prejudices; twelve or fourteen have lately joined our society. The 
Peoria nation has submitted to the yoke of Christ—forty of them joined last 
Sabbath week. Write to us and let us know when you will come to see us. 
I will try to be at home. Yours in haste, Thomas Johnson.” 

At the conference of 1832 the Kansas Indian missions were formed into 
a separate district, called the Indian Mission district, and Thomas Johnson 
appointed superintendent, which position he held till 1841, when he was 
compelled to resign because of ill health. Up to 1836 the appointment of 
the missionary was to “mission and school,” and he had charge of both re¬ 
ligious and educational work, under the direction of the superintendent. 
When the manual-labor school was opened a minister was placed in separate 
charge of that institution. At the conference of 1842 the office of “super¬ 
intendent” gave way to that of “presiding elder.” Prior to the establish¬ 
ment of the manual-labor school, mission schools were conducted in each 


Note 15.—Autobiography of Rev. Lorenzo Waugh, 1884, chapters 7 and 8. 

Note 16.—During the year 1834 Rev, William Johnson and wife are mentioned as assistants 
at the mission ; scholars, 27; hopeful native converts, 40; other natives, 34; white members, 4. 
—McCoy’s Annual Register, January, 1835, pp. 23. 24. 



10 


tribe, the missionary securing some lady to do the teaching. This lady was 
often the wife of the missionary. The salary of the missionary was t e 
regular disciplinary allowance of $100 per annum for himself, and the same 
for his wife, and there was very little money with which to equip the sta¬ 
tion. Rev. Joab Spencer, surviving missionary to the Shawnees, writes that 
in the early days Rev. Thomas Johnson received a call from one of the church 
officials, and that Mrs. Johnson desired a better equipment for her table 
than they had ordinarily, but Mr. Johnson said that the official must put 
up with their plain fare. So he, like the rest, ate from a tin plate. Mr. 
Johnson had no horse, and sometimes in making his trips had to ride an ox 

instead. 



From a drawing made from a description furnished by Rev. L. B. Stateler, who was missionary to 
this tribe, and erected it in 1840-’41. It was sometimes used as council-house. 


The church building belonging to the Shawnee Mission was located 17 in a 
beautiful grove on a country road leading from Westport into the Indian 
country, and was about four miles west of the manual-labor school, and 
about six miles southwest of Kansas City. The manual-labor school was 


Note 17.— The following location of mission sites among the Shawnees was given the secre¬ 
tary by Rev. Joab Spencer, under date of February 17, 1906: 

Shawnee Mission, established 1830, located on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter 
section 24, township ll, range 24, Wyandotte county. 

Shawnee manual-labor school, built in 1839, southwest quarter section 3, township 12, range 
25, Johnson county. 

Shawnee church, north half of southeast quarter section 11, township 12, range 24, Johnson 
county. 

The prophet’s town, northeast quarter of southwest quarter section 32, township 11, range 
25, Wyandotte county. 

Quaker mission, northeast quarter section 6, township 12, range 25, Johnson county. 

Baptist mission, northeast quarter section 5, township 12, range 25, Johnson county. 
































































11 


not erected on the old mission premises, but was four miles south of the 
original site of Turner. The church building was constructed of hewn logs, 
and was about 20 x 40 feet, plain and old-fashioned, and faced to the north, 
a door in the south end of the building opening on the camp-ground and 
cemetery. The date of its erection was about 1840, services before this 
having been held in the school building. Quite a number of whites attended 
the services, which consisted of preaching, morning and evening. Class- 
meetings were held at private houses. Love-feasts were held in connection 
with quarterly meetings and camp-meetings, the latter being held annually 
on the grounds near the church, and were attended by Methodists from 
other tribes. A parsonage was connected with the church. This historic 
old meeting-house stood till the latter part of the war, when it was tom 
down and used for fuel. A part of the time it was loopholed and used by 
the Kansas militia as a fort. Nothing is left but the little reservation of 
five acres used for a burying-ground. 

The conference of 1835 18 appointed Rev. William Ketron as missionary to 
the Shawnees. Mr. Ketron was a Southerner, having joined the Holston 
conference on trial in 1825, and was transferred to the Missouri conference 
in 1829. He served but one year in the Indian mission in Kansas. His as¬ 
sistants in the school and mission work were Mrs. Ketron, his wife, Mrs. 
Miller, Rev. David G. Gregory, and Mrs. Gregory. They had thirty-four 
scholars under their instruction, who were instructed in English gratui¬ 
tously. Nineteen of the pupils were supported by the mission, and lived 
in the mission family; the others received one meal a day at the mission 
house, and were otherwise supported by their parents. It seems that the 
industrial feature which Mr. Johnson inaugurated upon such a large scale 
a few years later was introduced at this time, as five of the boys were 
learning cabinet-making and two shoemaking. The missionaries taught 
some of the Shawnees to read in their native language, and some of these 
in time became teachers of others. Instruction in Indian was placed under 
the immediate notice of native class-leaders of the church. A small book in 
the Shawnee language, on religious subjects, and some hymns, was published 
by the missionaries, and introduced among the people with good effect. 19 
Some of the native church members, who numbered 105 at this time, took 
active part in public religious exercises, and had prayer in their families. 
The next year, 1836, Rev. Thomas Johnson was assisted by Mrs. Johnson, 
Rev. N. T. Shaler, Rev. D. G. Gregory, and a Mr. Holland. 20 

The year 1838 dates a new era in the history of the Methodist Indian 
missions in Kansas — the establishment of the Shawnee manual-labor 
school. 21 This meant the discontinuance of the separate Methodist schools 


Note 18.—Isaac McCoy’s Annual Register of Indian Affairs, January, 1836, pp. 24, 25. 

Note 19.—Mr. McCoy mentions, January, 1836, that advanced school-books had been printed 
on the Baptist press by Jotham Meeker — two for the Baptists and one for the Methodists; also, 
a small monthly periodical entitled Sanwaunowe Keeauthwau or Shawanoe Sun. —Register, p. 25. 

Note 20. —Isaac McCoy’s Annual Register of Indian Affairs, May, 1837, p. 27. 

Note 21.— Mrs. Julia Ann Stinson, of Tecumseh, widow of Thomas Nesbit Stinson, made 
the following statement, April 21, 1906, regarding the building of the Shawnee manual-labor 
school: Her grandfather, Henry Rogers, was a white man, stolen from his home in Virginia 
when a child, for Blackfish, a Shawnee Indian chief in Kentucky, who had lost his son. He grew 
up in Blackfish’s family and married his daughter. Here he became quite a wealthy man. Mrs. 
Stinson did not remember when her grandfather started west, but said that he sold out in Ken¬ 
tucky and came to Mtesouri with his family and slaves, to where, her grandmother told her, were 
great barracks, where they staid quite a while, and her grandfather died. Mrs. Rogers came 



12 


among the tribes and the education of the children at this central mstituti . 
At the general conference of 1836 Rev. Thomas Johnson induced that body 
to vote $75,000 for the establishment of the Indian manual-labor schoo , 
and the government at Washington granted him 2400 acres of the finest land. 


for his Indian mission. 

This amount alleged to have been voted is so large as to raise a question, 
which resulted in the following correspondence with the missionary society 
of the Methodist Episcopal church: 

“Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

150 Fifth Avenue, New York, April 24, 190b. 

“Rev. W. C. Evans, D. D., Topeka, Kan.: rwfnr 

“My Dear Doctor Evans— Yours of April 9, addressed to Doctor 

Leonard, has been handed to me for reply. I have been compelled to make 
some delay because of absence from the office in visiting conferences, niak- 
ing it impossible for me to search the records for the facts concerning which 
vou inquire. I do not find any action of the board taken in 1836 that ap¬ 
propriated money for the Shawnee school. At the meeting held November 
16 of that year I find this record, which possibly is the origin from which 
emanated the statement to which you refer, viz., that $75,000 is appropri¬ 
ated for the Shawnee school: ‘The treasurer also stated that he had received 
from the War Department $750, being one-fourth of the funds set apart tor 
education and for missions by the treaty with the Ottawas and the Chippe- 
was. ’ I find several items in the records of the board for 1838 that relate 
to the Shawnee industrial-training school. I send you these quotations, 
thinking that they may be of value to you in furnishing the information de¬ 
sired by the Kansas State Historical Society. ^ „ 

Yours sincerely, S. O. Benton. 


From the records of the board of managers of the missionary society of the Methodist 

Episcopal church. 

April 13, 1838: “It was mentioned that Brother Johnson, presiding elder 
and superintendent of the Shawnee Mission, with an Indian of that nation, 
would attend our anniversary. A committee was ordered to be appointed to 
to take charge of the missionary lyceum; Nathan Bangs, David M. Reese 
and George Coler constitute the committee.” 

May 16, 1838: “Certain documents from the Shawnee Mission having 
been read, they were on motion referred to a committee of five, viz.: Rev. 
Dr. Bangs, Rev. Dr. Luckey, Joseph Smith, Stephen Dando, and B. Dis- 
brow. ” 

May 30, 1838: “Doctor Bangs, from the committee appointed at the last 
meeting, made the following report, which was adopted: 

‘The committee appointed to take into consideration certain documents presented to the 
board of managers respecting the necessity and expediency of establishing a large central school 
for the benefit of Indian children and youth north of the Cherokee line, southwest of the Mis¬ 
souri river, and east of the Rocky Mountains, have had the same under consideration, and beg 
leave to present the following as the result of their deliberations: 

‘ For several years past our missionaries have had schools upon a small scale among the 
Shawnee and other tribes of Indians in that region of country who have become in part Chris¬ 
tianized ; and though these schools have exerted a salutary influence upon those who have at¬ 
tended them, yet, being small, and divided among so many distant tribes, they are necessarily 
limited in their influence, expensive in their support, as well as difficult of management. 

‘It appears, moreover, that this being a part of the country ceded by the United States to 
the Indians for the perpetual possession, other tribes are moving into the neighborhood, to 
whom it is desirable to impart the benefits of religious, moral, and intellectual, as well as me¬ 
chanical and agricultural instruction, that they may in due time be exalted to the benefits and 
immunities of a Christian and civilized community, and this is most likely to be accomplished by 
the employment of suitable and efficient means for the education of their children and youth. 

‘ From the humane policy of the general government of the United States, in the efforts they 
made to rescue the savages of our wildernesses from their state of barbarism, by means °f 
schools, we have reason to believe, if it be determined to establish a school of a character contem- 


on to Kansas, bringing with her twenty slaves, who, Mrs. Stinson thought, were the first ever 
brought to Kansas. Later, Thomas Johnson borrowed $4000 from her grandmother, Mrs. Henry 
Rogers, and with this money built the Shawnee manual-labor school, his second mission building. 
Mr. Johnson repaid the money 1 later. Mrs. Stinson’s parents, Polly Rogers and Mackinaw Bosh- 
man, were married about 1824 or 1825, as their oldest child. Annie (Mrs. N. T. Shaler), was at 
least eight years older than Mrs. Stinson, who was born in March, 1834. 



13 


plated in the documents above referred to, that pecuniary means may be obtained from the gov¬ 
ernment to carry the plan into effect, and also an annuity for its support from year to year. 

‘Under these views and impressions, the committee submit the following resolutions for the 
concurrence of the board : 

‘Resolved, 1, That it be, and hereby is, recommended to the Missouri annual conference to 
adopt such measures as they may consider suitable for the establishment of a central manual- 
labor school for the special benefit of Indian children and youth, in such place and under such 
regulations as they may judge most fit and proper. 

'Resolved, 2, That whenever the said conference shall so resolve, this board pledge them¬ 
selves to cooperate with them in carrying the plan into effect; provided, that a sum not exceed¬ 
ing $10,000 shall be drawn from the treasury of the missionary society of the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal church for any one year for the support of the schools so established. 

'Resolved, 3, That, with a view to secure the aid of the government of the United States in 
furnishing the pecuniary means necessary for the establishment and support of such a school as 
is contemplated, our corresponding secretary, or Dr. Samuel Luckey, be, and hereby is, requested 
to accompany our brother, the Rev. T. Johnson, to the city of Washington, and lay before the 
proper officer or officers having the superintendence of Indian affairs, or, if need be, submit to 
Congress, the plan of the contemplated school, and solicit aid in such way and manner as may be 
judged most suitable for the establishment and support of said school. 

All which is respectfully submitted. N. Bangs, Chairman .’ 

“The presiding bishop (Soule), in alluding to the'call for the present 
meeting, gave his views fully in favor of the establishment of a central 
school in the Indian country. The bishop had himself been in this country, 
and was intimately acquainted with the tribes over whom Brother Johnson 
has the superintendence. 

“ Bishop Andrew concurred in the remarks of the presiding officer, so 
far as his knowledge went. 

“Brother Johnson also gave his opinion as to the wants of the tribes in 
the Southwest, their present condition and prospects. 

“Letters were read from Major Cummins, the Indian agent, fully ac¬ 
cording with the representations made in the documents which have been 
read to this board. 

“Doctor Bangs offered the following resolution, which was unanimously 
passed: 

'Resolved, That our treasurer be authorized to pay to Brother Johnson the amount of his 
traveling expenses to and from this place, and that Brother Johnson be requested, on his return, 
to stop at as many of the principal places as his other engagements will allow, hold missionary 
meetings and take up collections for the missionary society, and account with the treasurer for 
the amount of said collections.’ ” 

June 20, 1838: “Doctor Luckey stated that he had just returned from 
his mission to Washington city in behalf of the Southwestern Indians, and 
that success had attended his mission. A full report would be hereafter 
presented. ’ ’ 

July 13, 1838: “Doctor Luckey presented the report of his doings at 
Washington, as promised at the last meeting. See documents, ‘ Report of 
Delegation on Indian Affairs,’ and accompanying documents 1, 2.” 

“I am unable to find the documents referred to in this last action. It 
may be that they are in some inaccessible place, stored with old papers be¬ 
longing to the missionary society, or it may be that they have been lost in 
some of the removals of the headquarters of the missionary society. 

S. O. Benton.” 


At the conference session which met at Boonville, September 26, 1838, it 
was decided to build a manual-labor school, which was to be patronized by 
the six tribes among which the church labored. This school was in opera¬ 
tion a year after action was taken. The report of the mission committee 
at this conference session may be regarded as the foundation of the Shawnee 
manual-labor school, and reads as follows: 


“Whereas, The board of managers of the missionary society of the 
Methodist Episcopal church have recommended to the Missouri annual con¬ 
ference to adopt such means as they consider suitable for the establishment 
of a central manual-labor school for the benefit of Indian children and youth 
in such place and under such regulations as they may judge most fit and 

p “Whereas, The government of the United States has stipulated to aid 


14 


liberally in the erection of suitable buildings for said school, and also to aid 
annually in its support; and 

“Whereas, The Shawnee nation of Indians in general council assembled, 
and in compliance with the wishes of the government have consented to the 
establishment of such school on their lands near the boundary of the state 
of Missouri, which is deemed a most eligible situation: therefore, 

“ Resolved , 1, That we, fully concurring with the board of managers of the 
missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church, do hereby agree to 
establish a manual-labor school for the benefit of Indian children and youth 
on the Shawnee lands near the boundary line of the state of Missouri, to be 
called-. 

* *.Resolved , 2, That a committee of three be appointed, whose duty it shall 
be to erect suitable buildings for the accommodation of the proposed school; 
secondly, to employ competent teachers, mechanics, a farmer, and such other 
persons as may be necessary; thirdly, to exercise a general supervision over 
the institution and report to this conference annually. 

* *Resolved , 3, That the above-named committee be and are hereby instructed 
to erect, for the accommodation of said school, two buildings, to serve as school- 
houses and teachers’ residences, each to be 100 feet long and 30 wide and 
two stories high, with an ell running back, 50 feet by 20, and two stories 
high; thirdly, buildings for four mechanics, with shops; fourthly, such farm 
buildings as they may judge necessary; provided, however, that if, in the 
judgment of the committee, the expenses of the above-named buildings are 
likely to be greater than such a sum as may be estimated by the missionary 
committee of this conference, they may make such changes as they may 
think proper.’’ 



HOME OF MISSIONARY AND TEACHERS AT SHAWNEE MISSION. 

Erected in 1839. This picture is as it appears now (1906). Mrs. Bishop Hendrix of Kan*** iw 

born in this building, while her father. Doctor Scarritt. was a teacWinth^ Was 

(See illustration of school building at end of this pamphlet.) 








15 


The location selected for the manual-labor school was in a beautiful 
little valley about three miles southwest of W estport, Mo., and on the Cali¬ 
fornia road. Work on the new buildings was begun by Mr. Johnson about 
the first of February 1839. 22 At this time he had 400 acres of land enclosed, 
12 acres of which was planted in apple trees, it being the first orchard set 
out in Kansas, and 176 acres were planted in corn. Upward of about 40,- 
000 rails were made in a short time by the Shawnee Indians. About forty 
hands were employed, and the buildings were soon under way. Brick-kilns 
were put up for the burning of brick, while some were shipped from St. Louis, 
and lumber from Cincinnati. The two large brick buildings erected at this 
time were on the south side of the California road. The building farthest 
east was 110 by 30 feet and two stories high. It was used as the school- 
house and dormitory for the boys and the home of the superintendent. 
The chapel was on the first floor of this building. This is one of the most 
historically interesting buildings in the state of Kansas and one of its ter¬ 
ritorial capitals. 23 Here the first territorial legislature of Kansas, which 
was called the “bogus” legislature, met and passed laws. Rev. Thomas 
Johnson, a Virginian by birth, who very naturally sympathized with the 
South, was chosen president of the council, or upper house of the legislature. 
The building just west of this one was built of brick and was 100 by 30 feet, 
with an ell. It served as the boarding-house, with a large dining-hall and 
table capable of accommodating between 200 and 300 people at a time. These 
two large buildings were within 100 yards of each other. Between them, 
and near the road, was a fine spring. Log houses and shops went up all over 
the place. Blacksmith shops, wagon shops, shoemaker shops, barns, grana¬ 
ries and tool-houses were erected; and a brick-yard, a sawmill and steam 
flour-mill were added to the mission. The latter was capable of grinding 
300 bushels of wheat per day. 

The school was opened in the new building in October, 1839. The report 
of the first year of the school by the superintending committee. Rev. 
Thomas Johnson, Rev. Jerome C. Berryman, and Rev. Jesse Greene, made 
in September, 1840, 24 shows that the new project was a success. The re¬ 
port shows that seventy-two scholars were in attendance during the school 
year, which opened in October, 1839, and closed in September, 1840. The 
most of these were permanent scholars, though some stayed but a short 
time. None were counted unless they stayed a month. The different 
tribes patronizing the school were represented as follows: Shawnees, 27; 
Delawares, 16; Chippewas, 2; Gros Ventres, 1; Peorias, 8; Pottawatomies, 
7; Kansans, 6; Kickapoos, 3; Munsees, 1; Osages, 1. The mission at this 
time was incomplete, and had house-room for only eighty children. Work 
and study alternated, the children being employed six hours a day at work 
and six hours in school. The girls, under the direction of their teachers, 
did the cooking for the entire school and for about twenty mechanics and 
other hands employed about the institution. They also made not only their 
own clothes, but those of the boys and some of the mechanics and others. 
Bishop Jas. O. Andrew once visited the school, and the Indian girls pre- 

Note 22.—These statistics are found in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, 1839, p. 433. 

Note 23.— See “Shawnee Mission Capital,” in volume 8 of Historical Society’s Collections, 
p. 333. 

Note 24.—Report of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1840, p. 147. 



16 



GIRLS’ BOARDING-HOUSE. 

Also home of the superintendent, matron, and teachers. For a time the home of Governor Reeder 
and other territorial officials ; erected in 1845. 

The portrait is Col. A. S. Johnson, first child born at the old Shawnee Mission. 

sented him with a pair of trousers, all the work of their own hands. They 
were also taught to spin and weave, while the boys were taught farming, 
carpentering, shoemaking, and brickmaking. 

Four teachers 25 were employed the first year—two to teach the children 
when in school and two to teach them when at work. A farmer was em¬ 
ployed to take charge of the farm and stock, and his wife to superintend 
the cooking. The principal of the institution was a practical mechanic, and 
conducted the building operations during the year. The crop report for the 
first year shows that 2000 bushels of wheat, 4000 of oats, 3500 of corn and 
500 of potatoes were raised. Upon the farm were 130 cattle, 100 hogs, and 
5 horses. Later three native buffalo were added. 26 

The daily routine of the pupils at the manual-labor school was as follows : 
At five A. M. they were awakened by the ringing of a bell, when in summer¬ 
time they performed light work about the farm until seven o’clock, when 
they breakfasted, a horn being blown by way of signal before each meal. 
In winter-time their morning work, before eating, was confined to the 
preparation of fuel, milking the cows, some thirty or forty in number, and 
feeding the stock. At nine the school-bell summoned them to their studies, 


Note 25.—John B. Luce, who visited the school in 1840, and made quite a lengthy report to 
the commissioner of Indian affairs, mentions Mr. Browning, principal, and Mrs. Kinnear, as a 
teacher of the boys’ school.—Id., p. 163. 

Note126. —Report of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1840, p. 148. 


















17 


which were kept up, with a short interval for recess, till twelve M. They 
dined between twelve and one o’clock and then resumed their studies until 
four. Their hour for tea was six P. M. Their evenings were spent in the 
preparation of their lessons for the ensuing day until eight o’clock. They 
were then allowed to indulge themselves in indoor recreation until half-past 
eight, when they were sent to their dormitories for the night. The only 
religious services which were held during the week were the reading of a 
chapter in the Bible, followed by prayer, just before the morning and even¬ 
ing meals. Saturday forenoon was devoted to work and the afternoon was 
given them as a holiday. Saturday evening was spent in the bath-room in 
cleaning up for Sunday. 

The children paid seventy-five dollars a year each to the superintendent, 
as a receipt in full for board, washing, and tuition. 27 The first task of the 
instructor was to teach the children English, which they soon learned to 
speak well, yet a slight foreign accent was usually noticeable. The children, 
as a general thing, were docile, teachable, and good-natured, and, when well, 
of a playful disposition, but when sick they were usually stupid and silent. 
They were not quarrelsome. As to mental capacity, they compared favora¬ 
bly with white children. 

At the conference of 1841 Rev. J. C. Berryman was appointed to take 
charge of the manual-labor school, to which position he was also appointed 
by the succeeding conferences. Mr. Berryman was, like his predecessor, a 
man of great energy and ability. His report for 1842 is interesting and is 
as follows: 

‘ ‘ From experiments already made, we are fully satisfied that there is no 
essential difference between white and red children; the difference is all in 
circumstances. 

“There are difficulties, however, very great difficulties, to be surmounted 
in the education of Indian youth. The ignorance and prejudice, instability 
and apathy, of the parents, and all the little whims that can be imagined as 
being indulged in by so degraded a people, combine to hinder us and retard 
their own advancement in civilization; and one of the greatest hindrances 
to the success of our efforts to impart instruction to the children we collect 
here is the difficulty of keeping them a sufficient length of time to mature 
anything we undertake to teach them; especially if they are considerably 
advanced in age when they commence. We have found that the labors 
bestowed upon those children taken in after they had reached the age of 
ten or twelve years have, in most cases, been lost; whereas, those taken in 
between the ages of six and ten, have in a majority of cases done well. 
This is chiefly owing to the older ones having formed habits of idleness, so 
that they will not bear the confinement and discipline of school. Another 
thing in favor of receiving these children at an early age is, that they ac¬ 
quire our language more readily and speak it more correctly. They also 
more easily adopt our manners and habits of thinking. 

J. C. Berryman, 

Superintendent Manual Labor School.” 

“We concur in this report: 

N. M. Talbot, 

E. T. Perry [Peery], 

Members of Superintending Com. 

(Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1842, pp. 114, 115.) 

The school opened September 15, 1843, with 110 scholars. The church 

Note 27 — This charge of seventy-five dollars per annum was probably made at a later date, 
as Mr Berryman, in his report for 1842, says: “The children are boarded, clothed, lodged and 
taught free of any cost to their parents, except in a single instance, in which the parents clothe 
the child.”—Report of the United States Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 1842, p. 115. 

-2 




18 



REV. JEROME C. BERRYMAN. 

For [twelve years missionary to thd Indians. He died May 8, 1906, at Caledonia, Mo., m the 
ninety-seventh year of his age. For seventy-seven years a minister of the Gospel.« 


statistics for this year report ten colored children as members of the mis¬ 
sion. The conference minutes would indicate that they lived at the manual- 
labor school. These colored children belonged to the slaves which Rev. 
Thomas Johnson had brought into the territory, and who worked on the mis¬ 
sion premises. 28 The increase of members in our mission this year was 210. 

In the month of October, 1844, Bishop Thomas A. Morris, in the course 
of an episcopal tour through the Southwest, visited the Shawnee manual- 
labor school. The trip from St. Louis, where he presided at the Missouri 
conference, to what is now Kansas City, was made by boat. The water in 
the Missouri river was at a low stage, so that navigation was extremely 
difficult. A safe landing was however made one mile below the mouth of 
the Kansas, on the lOtli of October, between sunset and dark. The ten or 
twelve preachers who had started from St. Louis in company with the bishop 
had all left the boat at different points for their circuits, so that he found 
himself entirely alone on the border of the Indian country, without guide or 

Note 28.—In April, 1895, Col. A. S. Johnson dictated a lengthy and very interesting state¬ 
ment relative to his father’s slaves, which is among his papers in the Historical Society’s Col¬ 
lections. 





19 


acquaintance, with lodging to hunt amid the deepening shadows of night. 
Shouldering his baggage, he ascended a steep hill, on the summit of which 
he found a new cabin, occupied by Colonel Chick, 29 who, having been washed 
out by a late freshet, 30 had sought a new home above high-water mark. The 
bishop was very cordially received, and kindly entertained by the colonel 
and his family until the next morning. 

Bishop Morris then started on horseback for the manual-labor school, 
seven miles distant, where he had appointed to meet a party of missionaries, 
to proceed together through the Indian country to the Indian Mission con¬ 
ference to be held at Tahlequah, Cherokee nation. Bishop Morris witnessed 
part of the examination exercises at the close of the regular term. “Their 
performance,” he says, “in spelling, reading, writing, geography, composi¬ 
tion and vocal music was such as would do credit to any of our city schools 
in the United States.” 

On Monday, October 14, the bishop and his company started for the In¬ 
dian Mission conference. The company consisted of himself, Rev. L. B. 
Stateler, missionary to the Shawnees; Rev. Thomas Hurlburt, missionary 
among the Chippewas, and Rev. E. T. Peery, superintendent of the manual- 
labor school. They followed the old military road through the territory. 
They got a late start the first day, and after traveling about twenty-five 
miles camped for the night. Their tent was made of domestic cotton, cir¬ 
cular, in the style of the northern Indian habitations, supported by a center 
pole, and the base extended by cords and pegs. In this, with buffalo skins- 
for beds and buggy cushions for pillows, they slept comfortably and securely. 

The next day they journeyed about thirty-eight miles, camping for the night 
on the south bank of the Marais des Cygnes in a quiet, pleasant place, where 
the only interruptions of their slumbers were the noises which arose now and 
then from a camp of Pottawatomie Indians. The next day they overtook 
the Rev. Thomas H. Ruble, missionary among the Pottawatomies, and a son 
of Chief Boashman, a young Indian who had been educated in the manual- 
labor school and had become a Christian, and was then acting as an inter¬ 
preter. Thus reenforced, the three carriages formed quite a respectable 
procession. Early in the afternoon they were [caught in a northeastern 
rain-storm, accompanied with high winds, but they pushed on, and late in 
the evening they reached the Marmaton river, near Fort Scott, where fuel 
and water could be procured, and where they pitched their tent for the night. 
Calling at the fort next morning, they laid in a supply of horse provender, 
having been notified that this would be the last opportunity for the next 

Note 29.—William M. Chick was born in Virginia in 1794. Came to Saline county, Missouri, 
about 1822. Moved to Howard county in 1826, thence to Westport in 1836, and to Kansas City in 
1843. He died April 7, 1847. in Kansas City. His wife, Ann Eliza Chick, was a teacher in the 
Shawnee Mission in 1851. She died in Kansas City in 1875. The children were: Mary Jane, mar¬ 
ried to Rev. Wm. Johnson, afterwards to Rev. John T. Peery; William S. Chick; Virginia, wife 
of John C. McCoy; Sarah Ann, Polk, Washington Henry (born in Saline county in 1826), Joseph 
S., Martha Matilda, Scarritt, Pettus W., and Leonidas. It was in the cabin of Col.Wm. M. Chick 
that the first Methodist preaching service was held in Kansas City. This was in 1840, and the 
preacher Rev. James Porter. In 1845 this same local preacher organized the first Methodist 
class, the services being held in a log schoolhouse at the present crossing of Missouri avenue and 
Delaware street in that city. The weather being warm, the service was held in the shade of 
the forest-trees. At the conclusion of the preaching service, the preacher requested those who 
wished to join to take their seats on a log near where he stood. Five came forward and took 
their seats accordingly, viz.: Colonel Chick and wife, James Hickman, a Mrs. Smith, and Jane 
Porter. These, with the preacher, constituted the first class in Kansas City. His son, J. S. 
Chick, of Kansas City, was born in Howard county, August 3, 1828. 

Note 30,—This was the great flood year in the Kansas valley, 1844, the water exceeding in 
depth that of 1903. 



20 


fifty miles. That day the air was very chilly and traveling across the prai¬ 
ries anything but pleasant. When they finally reached the last skirt of 
timber, on the Drywood fork, though early in the afternoon, it was too late 
to attempt to cross the big prairie, twenty-three miles across, and they 
halted for the night. 

The next day they set out early, in a driving snow-storm. On Saturday, 
the 19th, they passed through the Quapaw lands and the Little Shawnee 
village, and in the evening arrived at Mrs. Adams’s, in the Seneca nation, 
where they were kindly received, and spent the Sabbath. The religious 
services held in the house of this excellent lady were peculiarly impressive. 
The congregation of some sixty persons contained Senecas, Stockbridges, 
Shawnees, Cherokees, Africans, Canadians, and citizens of the United 
States. Here the Rev. N. M. Talbot, missionary among the Kickapoos, 
joined the party, and all proceeded together Monday morning to confer¬ 
ence. 

The school report for the year 1845 shows 137 scholars in attendance. 
During this year the erection of another large brick building, 100 feet in 
length and 20 feet in width, and two stories high, was begun. It was 
located on the north side of the road, the three large buildings forming a 
triangle, but not joining each other. This building had a piazza the whole 
length, with the exception of a small room at each end taken off the piazza. 
This building served as the girls’ home and boarding-school. The superin¬ 
tendent and his family also occupied this building. Governor Reeder and 
staff and other territorial officials were quartered here in 1855, when Shaw¬ 
nee Mission was the capital. 31 

In 1845 the Methodist Episcopal church was rent asunder, as the result 
of differences of opinion on the slavery question. At a convention which 
met May 1, 1845, in the city of Louisville, Ky., the Methodist Episcopal 
Church South was organized. 32 The Kansas missions, which at this time 
were embraced in the Indian Mission conference, fell into the Church South. 
The Indian Mission conference for the year 1845 was held at the Shawnee 
Mission, Bishop Joshua Soule presiding. Bishop Soule was one of the two 
bishops who adhered to the Church South. The other was Bishop James O. 
Andrew, a native of Georgia. Bishop Soule was a Northern man by birth 
and rearing, having been born in Maine, August 1, 1781. He died at Nash¬ 
ville, March 6, 1867. 

Rev. Wm. H. Goode, one of the early missionaries among the Choctaws 
in Indian Territory, was a delegate with Rev. E. T. Peery from the Indian 
Mission conference which met at Tahlequah October 23, 1844, to the conven¬ 
tion held at Louisville in May, 1845, at which the M. E. Church South was 


Note 31.-A fine picture of this building, taken in 1897, is given in the Coates Memorial 
opposite page 114; see, also. Report of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1845* 
p. 539. ’ ’ 

Note 32.—A very interesting account of the part taken by Missouri in the organization of 
the Southern conference may be found in a little volume in the Historical Society’s library en 
titled ‘History of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church South,” Nashville 1845 
Missouri was represented in the Louisville conference by the following delegates: Andrew 
Monroe Jesse Greene, John Glanville, Wesley Browning, William Patton. John H. Lynn Joseph 
Boyle, Thomas Johnson J. C. Berryman was chairman of the Indian Mission conference The 
Historical Society has also a little pamphlet, of which a few pages are lacking published in 1847 
or 1851, being the “Defense of Rev. Lorenzo Waugh agains? the ME! Church South of Mfcl 
lateto thl dlvSn y ' firSt and twenty - second chapters of Father Waugh’s autobiography also re- 




21 


organized. He has this to say in his “Outposts of Zion” concerning the 
division: 

“ The influence of the large mission establishment at the manual-labor 
school was strong. There were few to counteract or explain; and at the 
separation the main body of our Shawnee membership was carried, nolens 
volens, into the Church South. They have a large meeting-house and 
camp-ground, and exert a powerful influence over the tribe. Our member¬ 
ship is reduced to about twenty—a faithful band.” 33 

The manual-labor school was thus for the next seventeen years under the 
supervision of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1845 and 1846 
Rev. William Patton was superintendent . The concluding portion of his 
report for 1846 to Hon. William Medill, commissioner of Indian affairs, is 
as follows: 

“Our mills and shops are doing well, affording considerable assistance to 
the Indians around in various ways. The shops furnish the more industri¬ 
ous and enterprising with wagons, and such like, by which they are enabled 
to make for themselves and families something to subsist upon. Of the 
mills I must speak more definitely. There has nothing been done for the 
Indians in all this section of country, in the way of improvements, which is 
of equal importance, or anything like equal importance, with the erection 
of the steam flouring- and sawmill at this place. Here, the Indians from 
several tribes around get a large quantity of their breadstuffs, such as 
flour and corn-meal. But this is not the only advantage derived—the saw¬ 
mill furnishes them with lumber for building and furnishing their houses; 
and, what is of still greater importance to them, the mills, and especially 
the sawmill, offer to them inducements to industry. We purchase from 
the Indians all our sawlogs, our steam wood, etc., thus giving them em¬ 
ployment and furnishing in return flour, meal, sugar, coffee, salt, and such 
other things, in a dry-goods line, as they or their families may need, and 
those things which, in many instances, they could not have without these 
facilities, at least to any considerable extent. 


“I have the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient servant, 

W. Patton.” 

(Report 1846, p. 365.) 

In 1847 Thomas Johnson was returned as superintendent of the manual- 
labor school, which position he held till the school was discontinued. The 
school report for this year shows 125 scholars in attendance, 78 males and 
47 females. 

The crops for 1848 were a partial failure, by reason of a prolonged drought 
♦ of two years—very little rain falling in that time. The springs began to 
fail, the pasture suffered greatly, and they were compelled, in the summer 
of 1848, to haul water a distance of two miles in order to keep the steam 
flour-mill running. 34 

This year, 1848, Mr. Johnson decided to organize a classical department 
in connection with the school. In the conference minutes it is called the 
Western Academy. Rev. Nathan Scarritt, 35 father-in-law of Bishop E. R. 


Note 33.— Outposts, p. 295. 

Note 34.—Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1848, p. 450. 

Note. 35. —Bishop E. R. Hendrix, Kansas City, Mo.: One of the men closely identified with 
the early history of Kansas, and especially with missionary work among the Indians ont he 
reservation, was Rev. Nathan Scarritt, whose name is held in grateful remembrance by the de¬ 
scendants of the Shawnees. Delawares, and Wyandots, as well as the early settlers of eastern 
Kansas. Doctor Scarritt was born April 14,1821, in Edwardsville, Ill., was educated at McKen- 
dree College, Lebanon, Ill., where he graduated as valedictorian of his class in 1842, and spent 
the rest of his life in teaching and as a preacher of the Gospel in Missouri and Kansas. In 1845 




22 


Hendrix, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, whose episcopal resi¬ 
dence is in Kansas City, Mo., was selected to take charge of this new de¬ 
partment, in which he served three years. Mrs. Hendrix was born at the 
Shawnee Mission. Mr. Scarritt says, in a manuscript left by him, that the 
school was then in a flourishing condition, and that the new department which 
he was called upon to take charge of proved a decided success. He says:| 

“A score or more of young gentlemen and young ladies from across the 
line, and some, indeed, from more distant parts of Missouri, were admitted 
into this department. This brought the whites and Indians into close com¬ 
petition in the race for knowledge, and I must say that those Indian scholars 
whose previous knowledge had been equal to their competitors were not a 
whit behind them in contest for the laurels of scholarship. ” 36 

Doctor Scarritt attributed the success of the school chiefly to the wise, 
judicious and able management of the superintendent, Rev. Thomas Johnson. 
Doctor Scarritt spent a considerable part of his time in preaching among the 
different tribes, through interpreters. He became so interested in mission- 


he removed to Fayette, Mo., where he joined with Prof. Wm. T. Lucky in establishing a high 
school, out of which has grown Central College and Howard Female College. In 1846 he was 
licensed to preach, and joined the Missouri conference, but for two years his appointment was to 
Howard high school. After some four years at Fayette, Mo., in Howard high school, he was 
called to take charge of the high school or academic department of the Shawnee manual-labor 
school, under the general superintendence of Rev. Thomas Johnson, an early missionary to the 
Shawnees, as his brother. Rev. Wm. Johnson, was to the Raws. All the tribal schools were 
merged into this institution, which was located some two miles from Westport. Here are still 
found the substantial buildings erected some sixty-five years ago for school and chapel purposes 
and for the homes of the missionaries. While instruction was given in brickmaking, carpenter¬ 
ing, wagon-making, farming, and the girls taught all kinds of domestic pursuits, much attention 
was given to work of a high-school grade. Here the Indian youth came in contact with the 
children of the pioneer whites and were taught in the same classes. At least one United States 
senator received instruction in those early days from the lips of Doctor Scarritt. He was mar¬ 
ried April 29, 1850, to Miss Martha Matilda Chick, daughter of Col. Wm. M. Chick. She was the 
mother of nine children, six of whom are still living. She died July 29, 1873. 

In the fall of 1851 he was appointed missionary to the Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot In¬ 
dians, and, later in the year, was stationed at Lexington, Mo. In 1852 he was appointed to 
Kansas City and Westport. In 1854-’55 he was principal of the Westport high school. Then he 
was transferred to the Kansas Mission conference, and appointed presiding elder of the Kicka- 
poo district. He was soon afterward elected president pro tem. of Central College. In 1858-’59 
he was appointed to the Shawnee reserve, and for the next two years presiding elder of the 
Lecompton district. In October, 1874, he was married to Mrs. Ruth E. Scarritt, the widow of his 
brother Isaac. He was a member of several general conferences. His death occurred in 1890. 
The sketch of Thomas Johnson in Andreas’s History of Kansas was written by Doctor Scarritt 

While engaged in teaching, Doctor Scarritt found great joy in preaching to the Indians, and 
soon had regular appointments among them. Doctor Scarritt gave all together some seven years 
to work among the Indians and whites in eastern Kansas. Speaking of the Indians, he says: “ The 
effects of divine grace upon the minds and hearts of these uncultured heathen were to me a mar- 
vel. While his work was not continuous, as would have been his preference, being called twice 
to other work in Missouri, where he had begun his ministry, and where he was always held in great 
esteem as a preacher and an educator, yet his years given to Kansas form an important chapter in 
its early history. A pioneer in spirit, he delighted to build on no other man’s foundation. Speaking 
of those seven years, he says: I traveled wherever settlements were planted, preaching to the 
people, visiting pastorally, and organizing churches. The Indian tribes still occupied the reser¬ 
vations, and all the white settlements were in their most primitive and inchoate state. This con¬ 
dition of society, together with the extent of country over which I had to travel, and the total 
° f , roads ’ brid « es * etc between settlements, rendered my labors during those years of the 
most arduous character. My exposures were often severe and, sometimes, hazardous. Some¬ 
times I would have to swim swollen streams, lie out all night upon the ground, even in cold and 

»«»■ ?«• ?<> fastin i for twe" 


1 V j iw nie L.duin ui me ironuer settler, and even m the Indian’s wic 

glnufne heart Test?^ h&Ve bee ° the acc °mmodations, were always enjoyed by me with a 

Doctor Scarritt was closely identified with Kansas from 1848 to 1861 with the excention of 
two or three years, when he yielded to the call of his church for special service in Missouri Much 
of his life was spent in what is now embraced in the cornorate limits nr v Qriooc , V u 

o? U r"„ d | e W Bib J? ir 1 Trai "j" s S?hSl toES'f 8 ms^bte w?fe y ; dauThte? 

of Col. Wm M. Chick, cordially seconded him in all his labors. Her sister wIs M?s Wdlinm 

«hr’T/ 10 WaS indeep sympathy with her husband in his missionary work among the KawT 
Note 36.—Cutler’s History of Kansas, 1883, p. 300. 



23 



REV. NATHAN SCARRITT, D. D., 

Principal of classical department in the manual-labor school, and missionary. 

ary work among the Indians that at the end of his three years’ professorship 
he entered that work exclusively. This was in the fall of 1851, when he was 
appointed to take charge of three missions—the Shawnee, the Delaware, and 
the Wyandot, with Rev. Daniel D. Doffelmeyer and several native helpers 
as assistants. He says that the Indian converts were as a rule consistent 
in their Christian conduct, and that they would compare favorably in this 
particular with the whites. He says: ‘ The older Christians among them 
especially would manifest in their public exercises, their exhortations and 
prayers a degree of earnestness, pathos and importunity that I have seldom 
witnessed elsewhere.” Of the interpreters he says: “Charles Bluejacket 
was our interpreter among the Shawnees, Silas Armstrong among the Wyan- 
dots, and James Ketchum among the Delawares. They were all remark¬ 
able men, all intelligent, all truly and deeply pious, yet each was uniaue in 
some prominent characteristic.” 

Charles Bluejacket was born in Michigan, on the river Huron, in 1816, 
and came with his tribe to Kansas when a boy. His grandfather, Weh-yah- 
pih-ehr-sehn-wah, or Bluejacket, was a famous war-chief, and was in the 
battle in which General Harmar was defeated, in 1790. In the battle in 
which Gen. Anthony Wayne defeated the northwest confederacy of Indians, 




24 



REV. CHARLES BLUEJACKET, 
Shawnee chief and interpreter. 


in 1794, Captain Bluejacket commanded the allied forces. According to 
Charles Bluejacket, his grandfather, had been opposed to the war, which had 
for some time been waged against the whites, but was overruled by the 
other war-chief. After the defeat, which rendered the cause of the Indians 
hopeless, Captain Bluejacket was the only chief who had courage to go to 
the camp of General Wayne and sue for peace. The battle was fought in 
1794, and a permanent peace was made in 1795. Charles Bluejacket’s an¬ 
cestors were war-chiefs, but never village or civil chiefs until after the 
removal of the tribe to the West. His father was probably the first civil 
chief of his family. When Charles was a child his parents moved to the 
Piqua Plains, Ohio. In 1832 they removed to their reservation near Kansas 
City, Kan. He was then'a youth of sixteen years. 

Charles inherited all the noble traits of character of his grandfather. 
He was licensed to preach in 1859, and continued till the time of his death. 
Rev. Joab Spencer, in a sketch of this famous Indian, says: “In 1858, when 
I made his acquaintance, he was forty-two years old, and as noble a speci¬ 
men of manhood as I ever saw. I lived in his family for two months, and 
saw him^at close range. An intimate acquaintance of two years showed 









25 


him in all walks of life to be a Christian gentleman of high order. In look¬ 
ing back over all these years, I can think of no one who, taken all in all, 
had more elements of true dignity and nobleness of character. He was my 
interpreter, and I never preached through a better. A favorite hymn of 
Bluejacket’s, and the one which was largely instrumental in his conversion, 
was the familiar hym of Isaac Watts: 

“Alas! and did my Saviour bleed, 

And did my Sovereign die, 

Would He devote that sacred head 
For such a worm as I.” 

Following is the verse in the Shawnee language: 

“Na-peache mi ce ta ha 
Che na mo si ti we 
Ma ci ke na mis wa la ti 
Mi ti na ta pi ni.” 

No history of the Shawnee Mission would be complete that omitted the names 
of Bluejacket, Paschal Fish, Tooly, Black Hoof, Pumpkin, Silverheels, and 
Capt. Joseph Parks. All the above were half, and in some cases more 
than half, white blood.’’ 

Bluejacket died October 29, 1897, at the town of Bluejacket, Indian Ter¬ 
ritory, whither he moved in 1871, from the effects of a cold contracted the 
preceding month, while searching for the Shawnee prophet’s grave, in Wyan¬ 
dotte county, Kansas. He was married three times, and twenty-three chil¬ 
dren were born to him. Mr. Spencer officiated at the wedding of one of his 
daughters, who married J. Gore. 

Rev. Joab Spencer, 37 a missionary among the Shawnees from 1858 to 
1860, gives some interesting features of the work, and says in regard to the 
results of our missionary labors among the Kansas tribes: 

“Methodism did not accomplish much for any of the tribes except the 
Shawnees, Delawares, and Wyandots. A good beginning was made among 
the Kickapoos, but for some reason the work did not prosper, though when 
we abandoned them there was a band of about twenty* five faithful mem¬ 
bers. The Indians made a treaty in 1854, taking part of their land in sever¬ 
alty and selling the balance to the government. Each Indian received 200 


Note 37.— Rev. Joab Spencer was born in Delaware county, Indiana, March 10, 1831. His 
great-grandfather, Ithamar Spencer, was a native of Connecticut. He was a captain in the war 
of the revolution, and with his oldest son, Amos, spent the entire seven years in that struggle. 
Joab Spencer’s father and grandfather were natives of New York. In 1842 his father moved to 
Andrew county, Missouri, included in the Platte purchase, and just opened to white settlers. 
School advantages were limited, and Mr. Spencer did not attend school to exceed three years. At 
the age of thirteen he united with the Methodist church. He was licensed to preach in the 
spring of 1855, and in the fall of the same year admitted on trial in the Missouri conference of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church South. After spending three years in the work in Missouri he 
was appointed to the Shawnee Indian mission, in 1858, serving two years. August 20, 1860, Mr. 
Spencer was married to Miss Mary C. Munkres, a niece of T. S. Huffaker. Their family consists 
of five daughters, two of whom are graduates of the Missouri State Normal and one of the Ohio 
Wesleyan University. The only son died at the age of twenty-six. The son was part owner 
of the daily and weekly Mail, at Nevada, Mo. In the fall of 1860 he was appointed to the Paola, 
Kan., circuit, and in 1861 presiding elder of the Council Grove district, but did not go on to the 
district till the spring of 1862, but was prevented by war troubles from doing any work; so he 
opened a high school at Council Grove. He remained at or near Council Grove for twelve years, 
teaching, farming, and merchandising. In 1864 he was elected to the state legislature from 
Morris county. In 1874 he was transferred to the Missouri conference, and served the following 
charges: California. Otterville, Clifton, Cambridge, Independence, and Warrensburg, the latter 
for more than six years continuously. Mr. Spencer has been active in Sunday-school work, and 
is the author of a work, “Normal Guide No. 1,” and for a number of years edited the home 
Sunday-school course in the St. Louis Christian Advocate. He is now living at Slater, Mo., the 
surviving missionary among the Indians in Kansas, and has recently published in the St. Louis 
Christian Advocate a. history of the “ Kansas Mission Conference,” of great interest in connec¬ 
tion with this subject. 



26 



REV. JOAB SPENCER, 

At this date (May 15, 1906), the only surviving missionary to the Shawnee Indians, living at 
Slater, Mo., in his seventy-sixth year. 


acres, I think, and $110 cash a year for a number of years—ten, I think. 38 
This gave the Indians a large sum, and was the means of bringing among 
them a large number of base men, who sold them mean whisky, and robbed 
them in many ways. When I was appointed to the mission, in 1858, I found 
a bad state of things as a result. Many of the members had lapsed, and the 
presence of the white people in the congregation kept many away from the 
church service. Then the example of the whites, including some church mem¬ 
bers, had a very bad influence on the Indians; besides, the mother church 
had evidently lost much interest in the work, as the results had been disap¬ 
pointing. I held two camp-meetings during my two years, at which a num¬ 
ber were converted, but very little was accomplished in the way of building 
up. At this time, 1858-’60, all features of manual training had ceased. 
There were twenty or thirty children—all, or nearly all, Shawnees—in the 


Note 38. — For the exact terms of these treaties, see Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treaties, vol. 
2, p. 618, Washington, 1904. 












27 


school, taught by a young lady, another young lady being matron. But our 
work as a church was done. How much of it abides, we cannot know. Few 
of the Indians, especially women, could converse in English. In my pastoral 
work I carried an Indian hymn-book containing many of the old favorites, 
which I learned to sing in their language. After spending a short time in 
the family, I would select and sing a hymn in which all would join; then, 
after prayer and hand-shaking, would leave. In this way I have witnessed 
many pleasant and touching scenes. Many of the members were excellent 
and stable Christians.” 

One very important official connected with the missions was the interpre¬ 
ter, as the preaching was mostly done through this medium. Rev. G. W. 
Love, M. D., who was a missionary for nearly three years among the Peoria, 
Pottawatomie and Kaw Indians, has left some brief reminiscences, which 
are interesting. Doctor Love emigrated to western Missouri from Ten¬ 
nessee in 1836, and died in Westport, Mo., October 20, 1903, at the age of 
eighty-seven. In his reminiscences he says: 

“I have preached through Capt. Joseph Parks, who was in command of 
a company of Shawnee Indians who fought for the government against the 
Seminoles in the Florida war. Afterwards he was the principal chief of the 
Shawnee nation. I also preached through Henry Tiblow, who received his 
education at the Shawnee Mission school. He was employed by the govern¬ 
ment as interpreter for the Shawnees and Delawares. I also preached 
through Bashman [Mackinaw Beauchemie], 39 while I was with the Potta- 
watomies.” 

Capt. Joseph Parks was a half-breed, and a prominent character among 
the Shawnees. His wife was a Wyandot. He owned slaves, and had a well- 
improved farm, with an elegant, well-furnished brick house, and in the 
treaty was well provided for by the grant of lands immediately upon the 
Missouri state line. Captain Parks lived for many years, when young, in 
the home of Gen. Lewis Cass. After the Shawnees came to Kansas he went 
to Washington, where he spent many years as agent of his tribe, in order to 
recover the money taken from them as stated on page 78 of volume 8, Kan¬ 
sas Historical Collections. Parks told Rev. Joab Spencer that it was through 
General Cass that he secured the money, because he had lived in the Cass 
family and the good reputation he sustained. He was, for many years, 
leader and head chief of his nation. He died April 4, 1859, and was buried 
from the old log meeting-house. 40 

Another prominent man of this tribe was Rev. Paschal Fish. He was a 
local preacher, and his brother, Charles Fish, acted as interpreter. For a few 
years after the division Paschal Fish served appointments in the Shawnee and 
Kickapoo missions under the Church South—then returned to the old church, 
remaining firm in his allegiance in spite of persecution. While fairly well 
educated, it appears that he was unable to write his name, as I have seen a 
document signed as follows: “Paschal Fish, his X mark.” 

Another interpreter connected with Shawnee Mission was Matthias Split- 

Note 39.— Is this the “Bossman” whose name is attached to the Pottawatomie treaty of 
1846 at “Pottawatomie creek, near Osage river, June 17, 1846”? —Indian Affairs, Laws, and 
Treaties, vol. 2, p. 560. 

Note 40.— “ Monday, 4th April, 1859. Capt. Parks died about 6 o’clock last night. He was 
tho’t to be about 66 years old. He has been for several years head chief of the Shawnees, but 
General Cass, who employed him as interpreter when in the Indian service, stated in a speech 
in the U. S. senate, in 1853, while a Shawnee claim was under discussion, that Parks, then in 
Washington, was a pure white man and had been captured by the Indians when very young. 
But among the Shawnees he claimed to be of Shawnee extraction, and the claim was universally 
acknowledged.”— Extract from the journal of Abelard Guthrie, in Connelley’s Provisional Gov- 
-ernm nt, p. 120. 



28 


log. He was a Cayuga-Seneca by descent, having been born in Canada in 
1816. He married Eliza Carloe, a Wyandot, and came west with the Wyan¬ 
dot nation. He made his home in the Seneca country when the Wyandots 
moved to the Indian Territory. Here he erected a fine church building. He 
died there in 1896. An interesting sketch of his life is found in Connelley’s 
Provisional Government, p. 34. 

During the year 1851 the Shawnee manual-labor school still continued to 
prosper. It suffered some little embarrassment from 1849 to 1851 by reason 
of the’ prevalence of cholera in the community. The subjoined statement is 
interesting in giving the name, age, the tribe to which each pupil belonged, 
the date of entrance, and the studies pursued. The roll contains many 
very picturesque names. 

SHAWNEE INDIAN MANUAL-LABOR SCHOOL. 

Statement No. 1, showing the condition of Fort Leavenworth Indian 
manual-labor school for the current year, ending September 30, 1851: 

Male Department . 

Teachers—A. Coneatzer, T. Huffaker, W. Luke, S. Huffaker. 

Names. 

Levi Flint. 

Robert Armstrong. 

Henry Garrett. 

Lagarus Flint. 

Mebzy Dougherty. 

John Paschal. 

John Mann. 

Thaxter Reed. 

Alpheus Herr. 

William Fish. 

John Anderson. 

Robert W. Robetalle.. 

Jacob Flint. 

Stephen Bluejacket.... 

Moses Pooler. 

Francis Pooler. 

Solomon Peck. 

Robert Merrill. 

Ephraim Robbins. 

James Hicks. 

William Barnet. 

Jacob Whitecrow. 

Peter Anderson. 

Peter Mann. 

Peter Sharlow. 


Robert Bluejacket. 

Thomas Bluejacket.... 

Cassius Barnet. 

Samuel Flint. 


George Sharlow.. 
Anson Carryhoo.. 
Thomas Huffaker. 
Eldridge Brown.. 
John Solomon, 1st 


Lewis Hays.. 
William Flint 


Age. Tribe. Entered. 

17 Shawnee. Nov., 1842 

14 Wyandot. Sept., 1850 

16 “ “ 1850 

15 Shawnee. Aug., 1842 

15 “ Nov., 1848 

16 Peoria. Jan., 1841 

14 Pottawatomie.. * ‘ 1841 

13 Ottawa. Mar., 1849 

15 “ . Sept., 1849 

14 Shawnee. May, 1849 

15 Pottawatomie.. Sept., 1848 

11 Wyandot. Nov., 1849 

10 Shawnee.July, 1848 

13 “ June, 1847 

12 Ottawa. Mar., 1849 

11 “ “ 1849 

12 “ “ 1849 

12 “ “ 1849 

11 “ “ 1849 

15 Wyandot. April, 1851 

15 Shawnee. “ 1851 

15 Wyandot. Mar., 1851 

12 Pottawatomie.. Oct., 1848 

13 “ .. Jan., 1848 

13 Wyandot. Mar., 1851 

12 Shawnee. Sept., 1849 

10 “ June, 1847 

14 “ Mar., 1849 

12 “ May, 1851 

t \ .July, 1850 

_ ‘ April, 1851 

15 Wyandot. “ 1851 

}5 “ “ 1851 

W “ 1851 

7 ‘ “ 1851 

17 “ 1851 


Studies. 

Latin, English, 
grammar, geogra¬ 
phy, arithmetic, 
philosophy, pen¬ 
manship, declama¬ 
tion, etc. 


Grammar, arithme¬ 
tic, geography, 
reading, writing, 
spelling, declama¬ 
tion, ete. 


Arithmetic, reading* 
spelling, writing, 
and declamation. 


From the alphabet 
to reading, spell¬ 
ing, and writing. 








































































29 


George Big River.... 

. 12 

Wyandot. 

Oct., 

1850 


Henry Lagotrie. 

. 11 

Pottawatomie.. 

April, 

1860 


John Solomon, 2d.... 

. 6 

Wyandot. 

4 4 

1860 


Francis Whitedeer... 

. 9 

Shawnee. 

June, 

1850 


James Baltrice. 

. 13 

a 

Sept., 

1848 


William Deskin. 

. 8 

i i 

June, 

1850 


Robert Sergket. 

,. 16 

a 

44 

1850 


Nathan Scarritt. 

.. 12 

4 4 

Mar., 

1849 


Edward Scarritt. 

,. 10 

44 

4 4 

1849 

From the alphabet 
> to reading, spell¬ 

John Charles.. 

.. 16 

Wyandot. 

Oct., 

1850 

ing, and writing. 

John Coon. 

. 16 

4 4 

44 

1850 


Charles Barnet. 

.. 9 

Shawnee. 

Feb., 

1850 


Joe Richardson. 

.. 7 

Ottawa. 

, Oct., 

1850 


George Williams. 

.. 16 

Wyandot.. 

44 

1850 


Isaac Frost. 

.. 20 

4 4 

Jan., 

1851 


Albert Solomon. 

.. 11 

44 

. Mar., 

1851 


George Luke. 

.. 12 

Delaware. 

, Oct., 

1850 



Female Department. 

Teachers—Mrs. M. J. Peery and Mrs. A. E. Chick (the wife of 
Col. Wm. M. Chick). 


Names. Age. 

Stella A. Harvey. 12 

Sally Bluejacket, 1st.. 15 

Mary A. Anderson_ 11 

Elizabeth Johnson .... 15 

Emily Bluejacket. 12 

Sophia Green. 11 

Susan Bluejacket. 10 

Hannah Wells. 13 

Rosalie Robetaille. 10 

Margaret Peery. 13 

Sarah Driver. 15 

Sally Bluejacket, 2d .. 8 

Caty P. Scarritt. 8 

Catharine Donaldson.. 10 

Rebecca Donaldson.... 7 

Nancy Green. 11 

Susan Wolfe. 11 

Elizabeth Robbins .... 10 

Louisa Shigget. 15 

Sarah Sarahas. 13 

Elizabeth Robetaille... 7 

Mary A. Wolfe. 16 

Ellen Miller. 7 

Eleanor Richardson... 6 

Sarah Armstrong. 12 

Eliza Armstrong. 10 

Mary Armstrong. 8 

Mary Solomon. 8 

Susan Buck. 10 

Frances Williams. 14 

Sarah Sharlow- .... 6 

Philomene Lagottrie.. 9 

Rosalie Lagottrie. 6 

Susan Driver. 14 

Ella Dougherty. 8 

Mary Hill... 9 

Sarah Hill.. 11 

Emma Williams. 12 

Mary Williams. 16 


Tribe. Entered. 


Omaha. 

Sept., 

1846 

Shawnee. 

Feb., 

1849 

Pottawatomie.. 

Oct., 

1848 

Shawnee. 

May, 

1847 

44 

June, 

1844 

Ottawa. 

Oct., 

1847 

Shawnee. 

Mar., 

1849 

4 4 

Dec., 

1847 

Wyandot. 

Jan., 

1851 

Delaware. 

Aug., 

1844 

Wyandot. 

Feb., 

1851 

Shawnee. 

Mar., 

1849 

4 4 

Oct., 

1848 

4 4 

44 

1848 

4 4 

4 4 

1848 

Ottawa. 

4 4 

1849 

4 4 

April, 

1849 

4 4 

4 4 

1849 

Delaware. 

July, 

1850 

Wyandot. 

Sept., 

1850 

4 4 

44 

1850 

Ottawa. 

April, 

1851 

4 4 

July, 

1850 

4 4 

4 4 

1850 

Wyandot. 

44 

1850 

4 * 

4 4 

1850 

4 4 

44 

1850 

44 

Sept., 

1850 

44 

Feb., 

1851 

4 4 

Sept., 

1850 

44 

Mar., 

1851 

Mohawk. 

4 4 

1851 

4 4 

4 4 

1851 

Wyandot. 

April, 

1851 

Shawnee. 

Oct., 

1849 

Wyandot. 

44 

1850 

4 4 

4 4 

1850 

4 4 

44 

1850 

44 

4 4 

1850 


Studies. 


Grammar, arith- 
l metic, geography, 
I reading, writing, 
and needlework. 


Arithmetic, geog- 
L raphy, reading, 

I writing, and 
needlework. 


From the alphabet 
to reading, spell¬ 
ing, and needle¬ 
work. 












































































































30 


Sally Bluejacket, 3d... 

6 

Shawnee 

Mary L. Scarritt. 

6 

i i 

Anna Scarritt. 

4 

ii 

Nancy Barnet. 

6 

a 

Mary J. Owens. 

10 

a 

Caty Whitedeer. 

7 

a 

Mary E. Ward. 

7 

Peoria... 

Susan Miller. 

13 

Ottawa. 


Sept., 1850 
May, 1849 
Sept., 1850 
May, 1849 L 
Sept., 1850 I 
July, 1850 | 
Sept., 1849 I 
April, 1849 J 


From the alphabet 
to reading, spell¬ 
ing, and needle¬ 
work. 


Total number in the female department. 47 

Total number in the male department. 53 

Total number in both departments. 100 

(Report Unites States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1851, pp. 87, 88 .) 


The report for the year 1854 shows that 105 children were in attendance, 
divided among the tribes as follows: Shawnee, 49; Delaware, 19; Wyandot, 
14; Ottawa, 23, but none from the Kickapoo, Kaw, Pottawatomie or Peoria 
tribes . 41 The treaty was made this year, and the manual feature closed. 
The shops were disposed of and disappeared. In 1858 a brick one was still 
standing, and used as a stable. The report of 1855 shows that but two tribes 
besides the Shawnees sent children to the school, the Ottawas 22, and the 
Wyandots 10. Two Spanish boys, rescued from the Cheyennes by General 
Whitfield , 42 were in attendance; also one small Sioux boy—122 in all. The 
report indicates progress, and notices a disposition among the Shawnees to 
improve and fit themselves to live among the white people . 43 

Thomas Johnson's last report as superintendent of the institution is headed 
“Shawnee manual-labor school, Kansas, September 6 , 1862," and is ad¬ 
dressed to Maj. James B. Abbott, Indian agent. It contains the following 
information: During the past year, closing with the present month, fifty- 
two Shawnee children were in attendance—twenty-six males and twenty-six 
females—ages from seven to sixteen; taught ordinary English branches; 
health unusually good. The parents and guardians manifest interest in the 
children. The average attendance has been thirty. Among the names are 
those of Wm. M. Whiteday, John Bigbone, Hiram Blackfish, Martha Prophet, 
Wm. Prophet, and Emma Chick (Emma Chick Moon, daughter of Wm. 
Chick, of Glenwood, Kan.) Major Abbott gives the following account of 
his visit to the school: 

“I found the children tidy, well clothed, and apparently well fed. Their 
head teacher, Mr. Meek, appeared to possess their confidence and affection. 
They appeared happy and contented, take a deep interest in their studies, 
and will compare favorably with white scholars. This school is sustained 
entirely out of the Shawnee school fund ." 44 

The school was abandoned soon after, perhaps the following year. Ma¬ 
jor Abbott, in his report for 1864, says : 

“There are no regular missionaries in this agency, but there is preaching 
almost every Sabbath from the Methodist denomination. There are also 
three or four Shawnees who preach occasionally to their brethren in their 
own language. ’ ’ 


Note 41.—Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1854, p. 316. 

Note 42.— Gen. John W. Whitfield was in charge of the Upper Platte agency in 1855. 
Note 43.—Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1855, p. 413. 

Note 44.—Id., 1862, pp. Ill, 113. 

























31 


Thus came to a close the most prominent Indian mission established by 
the Methodist church in the territory of Kansas. The mission had a dura¬ 
tion of about thirty-three years, a school being maintained during that period, 
and the manual-training school for a period of fifteen years. The Indian 
school at Lawrence, the magnificent Haskell Institute, which I have had the 
pleasure of visiting, is in its system of work and its various departments of 
manual training, very similar to the manual-labor school established by 
Thomas Johnson at Shawnee Mission nearly half a century before. 

This manual-labor school is said to have been the initiation of the effort 
to teach industrial pursuits to Indian children, which, being followed by other 
societies and by the government of the United States, to-day constitutes so 
prominent a feature in the work of Indian civilization. Finley with the 
Wyandots and McCoy with the Pottawatomies had used similar methods of 
instruction. 

It has been said that, when the Church South abandoned Shawnee Mis¬ 
sion, although the government had granted the land to the church, the title 
had been made out in Rev. Thomas Johnson’s name, so that he possessed 
himself of all the mission grounds and divided it among his children before 
his death. 

Rev. Joab Spencer, who was a very close friend of Mr. Johnson, makes 
the following explanation: 

‘‘In the treaty of 1854, the Shawnee Indians gave one section of their 
land to Thomas Johnson, and two sections and $10,000 in ten annual pay¬ 
ments to the church, for the education, board and clothing of a certain number 
of children for the term of ten years. For prudential reasons the treaty 
shows that all three sections were granted to the church, but with the under¬ 
standing that the church was to deed one section to Mr. Johnson. After 
the treaty, Mr. Johnson proposed to the mission board to do the work 
named in the treaty for one section of the church’s land and $1000 a year, 
thus leaving one section to the church clear of all trouble and expense. He 
carried out the contract with the church and government for five or six 
years, and then the war closed the school, though A. S. Johnson continued 
to live there. 

“When I went there, in 1858, there were about twenty-five or thirty chil¬ 
dren in the school. A. S. Johnson 45 was in charge of the farm and school. 
Miss Mary Hume was teacher and Miss Anna Shores matron. 

‘ ‘ The war came, and the government decided to confiscate the whole tract- 
all three sections. The Johnsons were at a heavy expense defending. They 
were loyal, and, on establishing valuable and acquired interest, through the 
influence of Senator James H. Lane, they succeeded in having all three sec¬ 
tions patented to them. To save the church’s interest, Mr. Johnson secured 
patents to all and settled with the church for its interest, paying, I think, 
$7500.” 

It remains only to tell of the old mission as it stands to-day. The old 


Note 45.— Col. Alexander Soule Johnson was born at the old Shawnee Mission, in 
Wyandotte county. Kansas, July 11, 1832. When twenty years of age he was married to Miss 
Prudence C. Funk, of St. Joseph, Mo. Two boys and two girls were born of the marriage, all of 
whom are dead except Mrs. Charles E. Fargo, of Dallas, Tex. Colonel Johnson made his home 
in Johnson county till 1870, when he moved to Topeka. His first wife died in 1874, and in 1877 
he married Miss Zippie A. Scott, of Manchester, N. H. Colonel Johnson was a member of the 
lower house of the first territorial legislature, when his father was president of the council. 
Colonel Johnson was the youngest member, being but twenty-three years old. 

Alexander S. Johnson was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Thirteenth infantry, Kan¬ 
sas state militia, October 13, 1863, and served in the Price raid, in October, 1864. He organized 
company D. Thirteenth Kansas state militia, at Eastport, Johnson county, September 19, 1863, 
of which he was captain.—See Adjutant-general’s Report, 1864, 1st pt., pp. 103, 104. 

In 1866-’67 Colonel Johnson served in the state legislature as a member from Johnson county. 
In 1867 he was appointed land commissioner of the Fort Scott & Gulf road. He remained in that 
position till the spring of 1870. He entered the land department of the Santa Fe road in 1874. 
In 1890 he resigned this position and retired from active business. Colonel Johnson died at Dallas. 
Tex., December 9, 1904. His remains were brought to Topeka. 



32 


building with the white posts, on the north side of the road, has been entirely 
remodeled inside, but the outward appearance of the place remains the 
same. In front of it is one of the most picturesque, old-fashioned yards to 
be found in the state. The trees, the shrubbery and the shape of the yard 
are all old-fashioned. Up from the gate to the wide porch that runs along 
the entire south side of the building is a walk made of stone slabs. It is 
uneven still, though the thousands of feet that have trod its stones have 
worn down the sharp points. Many moccasined feet, and many feet shod 
with boots and shoes, and some unshod, have passed over it in the sixty- 
seven years of its existence. The two large buildings on the south side are 
still standing. The plaster has fallen in spots from the ceilings and walls, 
disclosing the laths beneath. These laths were all hewn with hatchets and 
knives from the saplings of the forests. They were about twice the thick¬ 
ness of the modern lath, and far more substantial. The old spring is still 
there, and flows with undiminished volume to this day. Fragments of the 
iron pipe which conveyed the water from this spring yet remain. 

The mission cemetery is a place of interest. It stands on the top of the 
hill, a quarter of a mile southeast of the mission buildings. The place may 
be found by the clump of evergreens and other trees that mark it. It is 
enclosed by a stone wall which Joseph Wornal and Alex. S. Johnson put 
up some years ago. To this place the body of Rev. Thomas Johnson was 
brought for burial, after his foul assassination by bushwhackers in 1865. 
His wife and a brother and seven of his children and some of his grand¬ 
children are buried here. Outside the wall were other graves, some marked 
and some unmarked. Many of the stone and marble slabs have toppled 
over and are being buried underneath the soil. Among the graves outside 
the wall is that of Mrs. J. C. Berryman. 

Among the graves, that of Rev. Thomas Johnson is the most conspicu¬ 
ous. It is marked by a marble shaft which was put up by his family shortly 
after the war, and which bears this inscription: 

“Rev. Thomas Johnson, 

The Devoted Indian Missionary. 

Born July 11, 1802. 

Died Jan. 2, 1865. 

He built his own monument, which shall stand in peerless beauty long 
after this marble has crumbled into dust— 

A Monument of Good Works.” 

THE SHAWNEE MISSION REORGANIZED BY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

At the time of the division of the church, in 1845, as already stated, all 
its Indian missions were carried into the Methodist Episcopal Church South, 
notwithstanding the fact that Kansas was not slave territory, and that the 
Indians had little to do with slavery. The location of the missions were 
mostly contiguous to pro-slavery communities, thus making it difficult for 
the Methodist Episcopal church to exert much influence. It, therefore, sus¬ 
pended its operations in Kansas from 1845 to 1848. A convention was called 
at Spring river, December 25, 1845, Anthony Bewley, chairman, to decide 
what could ;be done for the few who remained in Missouri faithful to the 
Methodist Episcopal church. After the organization of the Missouri con¬ 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal church, in 1848, an effort was made to 
reestablish our work among the Shawnees. The veteran pioneer Rev 


38 


Abraham Still, 46 although a Southerner by birth and rearing, remained true 
to the church, and wasgappointed to the charge. A site was selected upon 
the Wakarusa, 47 near the mouth of that stream which gives name to the first 
war in Kansas history. Some progress was made in preparing a farm, and 
cheap buildings were erected and a small school opened. The appointments 
for 1849 read: “Platte Mission Jdistrict, Abraham Still, presiding elder: 
Indian mission, Thomas B. Markham and Paschal Fish." In 1851 Henry 
Reeder and Paschal Fish were appointed. In 1857 the work of our three 
Indian missions — Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawnee—seems to have been 
combined and four preachers appointed to serve them, viz., Abraham Still, 
M. T. Klepper, Paschal Fish, and Charles Ketchum. In 1853 48 the appoint¬ 
ments were the same, except that J. M. Chivington took the place of M. T. 
Klepper. 

In 1854 Kansas became a territory, and Rev. W. H. Goode was appointed 
to the Kansas and Nebraska district and Shawnee Mission. In “Outposts 
of Zion, * ’ p. 279, he says: 

“It was accordingly arranged that I should, in addition to the general 
charge [of the work among the white settlers], be appointed to the Shawnee 
mission, thus giving me the occupancy of the mission farm and buildings 
upon Wakarusa, already described, with a young man as my colleague who 
should make his home with me and perform the principal labors of the mis¬ 
sion. ” 


The young man sent was Rev. James S. Griffing, 49 whose son, Wm. J. 
Griffing, still lives at Manhattan, where I became acquainted with him some 
years ago, and who is an honored member of the Historical Society. 

It was in October, 1854, that Mr. Goode received this appointment, which 
proved to be a disappointment. Mr. Goode continues (on page 286): 

“Here (at Hannibal, Mo., the seat of the conference) a disappointment 
met me, rarely equaled in my life. The understanding already had for our 
occupancy of the mission premises among the Shawnees has been stated. 
Toward that point I was tending. On reaching Hannibal I learned that the 
title of the farm and improvements had been transferred to an Indian, who 
wished to lay his large claim or head-right, under the late treaty, so as to 
embrace these premises. It had been sold and his notes taken; possession 
to be given in the spring. Here I was brought to a stand, on my way with 
a large family to the frontier—winter just at hand, and no shelter in view." 

Mr. Goode applied to the Wyandots for a home among them, visited the 
council-house, obtained a hearing, and the chiefs, after a brief consultation, 


Note 46.—Abraham Still was born in Tennessee in 1792, entering the Holston conference 
in 1819 He moved to Missouri in 1837, and entered the Missouri conference. He died December 
13. 1869, at Centropolis. Kan.-Goode’s Outposts of Zion, p. 253; Autobiography of A. T. Still. 

Note 47. —The site was on section 8, town 13, range 21, in the northeastern part of Douglas 
county.— Oscar J. Richards, of Eudora. 


Note 48 — Dr Andrew T. Still says that in May, 1853, he and his wife, Mary M. Vaughn, to 
whom he was married January 29, 1849, by Lorenzo Waugh, moved to the Wakarusa mission, six 
miles east of Lawrence. Here his wife taught the Shawnee children, while he attended to the 
mission farm, breaking ninety acres of land before August He also assisted his father. Rev. 
Abraham Still, in doctoring the Indians, some of whom had the cholera. Mrs. Still died Septem¬ 
ber 29, 1859.—Autobiography of A. T. Still, Kirksville, Mo., 1897, p., 60. 


Note 49 —A biographical sketch of Mr. Griffing will be found in Kansas Historical Society 
Collections vol 8 p. 134. Mrs. J. Augusta Griffing, the widow of Rev. James S. Griffing, died 
at Manhattan Kan , February 21, 1906. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Goodrich, 
of Owego Tioga county. New York, and was born January 26, 1829. She was married to Rev. 
James S Griffing in Owego, September 13, 1855, and came to Kansas immediately, locating on a 
claim two miles east of Topeka, that her husband had preempted the year before. She was a 
cheerful helpmeet in the labors of an itinerant Methodist minister. 


-3 



34 


gave their consent. He rented for a year a small farm in the heart of the 
tribe, with a brick house, orchard, and other accommodations. The owner 
was a blind Indian, of the Zane stock. 

In 1855 only two missions were supplied by the Methodist Episcopal 
church —the Delaware and Wyandot— served'by J. H. Dennis, Charles 
Ketchum, and one supply. 

Among the many traditions held by the Shawnee Indians was one about 
the creation. In all essential points it agreed well with the account given 
in Genesis, up to the flood. Soon after Rev. Thomas Johnson, began his 
work at the mission, at a meeting of their council a committee of leading 
Indians was appointed to hear him preach, and report to the next council. 
Accordingly the committee were at the next Sunday service to hear the 
missionary. Knowing of this tradition, Mr. Johnson preached on the crea¬ 
tion. When the committee made their report, it was that the missionary 
knew what they knew, only much better, and the council decided to receive 
the missionary and his message. 50 

Early in his operations he began the translation of parts of the Gospel 
into the Shawnee language. This work had to be done through native in¬ 
terpreters, though not Christians. Mr. Johnson said that the first thing 
that seemed to make a deep impression on them, and especially on Paschal 
Fish, who afterwards became a leader in Christian work and a missionary 
to other tribes, was the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. 

Many of their traditions have so striking a resemblance to Bible narra¬ 
tives and customs, that Captain Parks, head chief, seemed to think they 
had descended from the Israelites. He was a Freemason, and he told Rev. 
Mr. Spencer, missionary, that the Indians had always had a form of Masonry 
almost exactly like ours. 


THE KAW MISSION. 

The following extract from a letter of Rev. Alexander McAlister, pre¬ 
siding elder of the Cape Girardeau district, to Rev. Jesse Greene, presiding 
elder of the Missouri district, which embraced the western portion of Mis¬ 
souri and the Indian country, will exhibit the inception of that enterprise 
for the education of the Indians on our western frontier. Says McAlister, 
under date of April 2, 1830: 

“I have just time to write a few lines by Brother Peery, in which I wish 
to call your attention to the Kaw Indians on your frontiers. Col. Daniel 
[Morgan] Boone, who is the government’s farmer among those Indians, 
married Mr. 51 McAlister’s sister, which circumstance has led to a corre¬ 
spondence between him and myself and the government’s agent of those 
Indians. Boone is among them, perhaps thirty or forty miles from Fort 
Osage. He promises to do all he can for the support of a school among 
that tribe. The agent also promised to assist as far as he can, and informs 
me that the Kaw Indians, according to the provisions of a treaty with the 


Note 50.— “Considerable stress has been laid upon the traditions of the Indians, some of 
which have been thought to favor the idea of their descent from Israel; but it is probable that 
none have ever become acquainted with the traditions of any tribe until after the tribe had de¬ 
rived some notions of Christianity from white men.”—Isaac McCoy, History of Baptist Indian 
Missions, 1840, introductory remarks, p. 14. 

Note 51.—It is possible that this should read “Mrs.” McAlister’s sister, as Mr Cone says 
in Capital article of August 27,1879, “ Col. Daniel M. Boone was married to Sarah E. Lewis in 
1800. ’ ’ 




85 


government, have a considerable sum of money 52 set apart to support 
schools among themselves, and the agent advises us to get in there imme¬ 
diately and secure that fund, and improve it to their benefit. I think you 
might visit them and know all about it soon, and perhaps get some pious 
young man to go and commence a school among them before conference/’ 

The Brother Peery by whom 
this letter was sent to his pre¬ 
siding elder was Rev. E. T. 
Peery, who at this time had 
charge of the Missouri circuit. 
At the conference held in St. 
Louis the September following, 
two missionary appointments 
for Kansas, as we have already 
stated, were made —Rev. 
Thomas Johnson to the Shaw- 
nees, and Rev. William Johnson 
to the Kaws. Rev. William John- 
son was born in Nelson county, 
Virginia, February 2, 1805, and 
removed with his father to Mis¬ 
souri in 1825, the year in which 
the Kaw reservation was laid 
out on the Kansas river. 

Just previous to the appointment of Mr. Johnson as missionary to the 
Kaws, the main body of that tribe was living in a large village on the north 
side of the Kansas river directly below the mouth of the Big Blue, in Pot- 
tawatomie county. Five years before, their lands had been curtailed, the 
eastern boundary had been placed sixty miles west of the Missouri state line. 
By the same treaty twenty-three half-breed Kaw children were each given 
a mile square of land fronting on the north bank of the Kansas river, and 
running for length eastwardly from the Kaw reserve proper, now the 
western boundary of Soldier township, Shawnee county, to about four miles 
east of the Delaware, in Jefferson county. The same treaty provided a 
blacksmith and farmer for the tribe, who, together with the agent, located, 
about 1827, on what they probably thought was the easternmost half-breed 
allotment. No. 23, but they were really situated just east of the line, on land 
which had been given the Delawares. By 1830 quite a little settlement had 
grown up here and in the neighborhood, of agency officers, half-breed families 
and a few Indians, among the last was the family of White Plume, the head 
chief of the tribe, while Fred. Chouteau’s trading-post was just south of the 
river. It was at this settlement, 53 it has been suggested, that Mr. Johnson 
began his first missionary work, in December, 1830. 

Note 52.—“Out of the lands herein ceded by the Kanzas nation to the United States, the 
commissioner aforesaid, in behalf of the said United States, doth further covenant and agree 
that thirty-six sections of good lands on the Big Blue river shall be laid out under the direction 
of the president of the United States, and sold for the purpose of raising a fund, to be applied, 
under the direction of the president, to the support of schools for the education of the Kanzas 
children within their nation.”—Article 5. treaty with the Kansa, 1825, in Indian Affairs, Laws, 
and Treaties, 1904, vol. 2, p. 223. 

Note 53.— Regarding the situation of the first Kaw agency, Daniel Boone, a son of Daniel 
Morgan Boone, government farmer to the Kaws, says, in a letter to Mr. W. W. Cone, dated West- 
port, Mo., August 11, 1879: “Fred. Chouteau’s brother established his trading-post across the 
river from my father’s residence the same fall we moved to the agency, in the year 1827. The 



REV. JOHN THOMPSON PEERY, 
For eight years missionary to the Indians. 




36 


MAP DRAWN BY JOHN C. McCOY. 

Observe that this map is.drawn upside down. Top is south. 



Kaw half-breed allotment No. 23, of 
Joseph James, 1825. 

Thos. R. Bayne, 1854. 

“The situation was somewhat as above — I mean of the agency.” 


Kaw agency, 1827. 

Section 4, township 12, range 19 east. 


This same year the Kaw Indians removed from their old village at the 
mouth of the Blue and located in three villages, each named for its own chief, 
a little east of the present post village of Valencia, in Shawnee county, 
one north and the other two south of the Kansas river, near Mission creek. 
Here Fred. Chouteau moved his trading-post the same year. Mr. W. W. 
Cone, of Brandsville, Mo., to whom I am greatly indebted, says in his splen¬ 
did article entitled “The First Kaw Indian Mission” (published in volumes 
1 and 2 of the Kansas Historical Society’s Collections), that William John¬ 
son pursued his mission work among the Indians of these three villages from 
1830 to 1832. He cannot quote his authority for this statement, but thinks it 
is based on sufficient grounds for belief. The fact, however, that “seven 
whites” appear to have attended the mission school during that period, and 


land reserved for the half-breeds belonged to the Kaws. The agency was nearly on the line in¬ 
side the Delaware land, and we lived half-mile east of this line, on the bank of the river.” 

Survey 23, the property of Joseph James, was the most easterly of the Kaw half-breed lands. 
The first Delaware land on the Kansas river east of this survey is section 4, township 12, range 19 
east; hence the site of the old agency. August 16, 1879, Mr. Cone and Judge Adams piloted by 
Thos. R. Bayne, owner of survey No. 23, visited the site of the agency. In the Topeka Weekly 
Capital of August 27 Mr. Cone says: “We noticed on the east of the dividing line, over on the 
Delaware land, the remains of about a dozen chimneys, although Mr. Bayne says there were at 
least twenty when he came there, in 1854.” 

John C. McCoy, in a letter to Mr. Cone, dated August, 1879, says : “ I first entered the terri¬ 
tory August 15, 1830. ... At the point described in your sketch, on the north bank of the 
Kansas river, seven or eight miles above Lawrence, was situated the Kansas agency I recollect 
the following persons and families living there at that date, viz.: Marston G ciark United 
.States sub-Indian agent, no family; Daniel M. Boone, Indian farmer, and family • ClementLessert 
interpreter, family, hall-breeds ; Gabriel Phillibert, government blacksmith, and family (whites!• 
Joe Jim, Gonvil, and perhaps other half-breed families. ... In your sketch published in 
the Capital you speak of the stone house or chimney, about two miles northwest of the Kansas 
agency. That was a stone building built by the government for White Plume head ehief 
Kanzans, in 1827 or 1828. There was also a large field fenced and broken in the prairie adioinW 
toward the east or southeast. We passed up by it in 1830, and found the gallant old chieftain 3? 
ting in state, rigged out in a Profusion of feathers, paint, wampum, brass arndets etc at the 
door of a lodge he had erected a hundred yards or so to the northwest of his stone mansion and in 
honor of our expected arrival the stars and stripes were gracefully floating in the breeze on £ 
tall pole over him. He was large, fine-looking, and inclined to corpulency, and reclfvld m? 
father with the grace and dignity of a real live potentate, and graciously signified his wllliSr- 
ness to accept of any amount of bacon and other presents we might be disposed tn 
In answer to an inquiry as. to the reasons that induced him to abfndon hisSeelymanston 'Si 
laconic explanation was simply, too much fleas.' A hasty examination I made of the house 












37 


the further fact that no white families were located at the upper villages, 
would indicate that his work was done at the Kaw agency, in Jefferson county. 
Though he had no good interpreter, and the Indians could speak but little Eng¬ 
lish, some good impressions were made. Three white persons were brought to a 
knowledge of the truth, and those who attended the mission school, nine 
Indians and seven whites, made a good beginning in leaning to spell and read. 
Mr. Johnson strove hard to learn their language. He spent nearly two 
years in this mission, when he was sent as a missionary to the Delawares. 

In 1835 Maj. Daniel Morgan Boone, son of the Kentucky pioneer, opened 
two farms near the Kaw villages. 54 It was this year that the Rev. Wm. 
Johnson, having married Miss Mary Jane Chick, at her father’s home in 
Howard county, Missouri, May 24, 1834, received a second appointment 
from the conference as a missionary among the Kaws. During that summer 


justified the wisdom of his removal. It was not only alive with fleas, but the floors, doors and 
windows had disappeared, and even the casings had been pretty well used up for kindling-wood. 

Mr. Cone gives the following description of White Plume’s stone house in his Capital article 
of August 27, 1879 : “ Mr. Bayne showed us a pile of stone as all that was left of that well-known 
landmark for old settlers, the ‘stone chimney.’ It was located fifty yards north of the present 
depot at Williamstown, or Rural, as it is now called. Mr. Bayne, in a letter dated August 12, 
says : * The old stone chimney or stone house to which you refer stood on the southwest quarter 
of section 29, range 19, when I came here, in 1854. It was then standing intact, except the roof 
and floors, which had been burnt. It was about 18 x 34 and two stories high. There was a well 
near it walled up with cut stone, and a very excellent job.’ ” 

John T. Irving visited Kansas in the fall of 1833, and gives this entertaining account of his 
accidental visit to White Plume’s residence, and the first Kansas Indian agency: 

“We emerged from the wood, and I found myself again near the bank of the Kansas river. 
Before me was a large house, with a court-yard in front. I sprang with joy through the unhung 
gate, and ran to the door. It was open ; I shouted ; my voice echoed through the rooms ; but 
there was no answer. I walked in; the doors of the inner chambers were swinging from their 
hinges, and long grass was growing through the crevices of the floor. While I stood gazing 
around an owl flitted by, and dashed out of an unglazed window ; again I shouted ; but there was 
no answer ; the place was desolate and deserted. I afterwards learned that this house had been 
built for the residence of the chief of the Kanza tribe, but that the ground upon which it was 
situated having been discovered to be within a tract granted to some other tribe, the chief had 
deserted it, and it had been allowed to fall to ruin. My guide waited patiently until I finished my 
examination, and then again we pressed forward. . . . We kept on until near daylight, when 

we emerged from a thick forest and came suddenly upon a small hamlet. The barking of several 
dogs, which came flying out to meet us, convinced me that this time I was not mistaken. A light 
was shining through the crevices of a log cabin ; I knocked at the door with a violence that might 
have awakened one of the seven sleepers. ‘ Who dare—and vot de devil you vant?’ screamed a 
little cracked voice from within. It sounded like music to me. I stated my troubles. The door 
was opened ; a head, garnished with a red nightcap, was thrust out, and, after a little parley, I 
was admitted into the bedroom of the man, his Indian squaw, and a host of children. As, how¬ 
ever, it was the only room in the house, it was also the kitchen. I had gone so long without food 
that,’ notwithstanding what I had eaten, the gnawings of hunger were excessive, and 1 had no 
sooner mentioned my wants than a fire was kindled, and in ten minutes a meal 1 I don’t exactly 
know whether to call it breakfast, dinner, or supper) of hot cakes, venison, honey and coffee was 
placed before me, and disappeared with the rapidity of lightning. The squaw, having seen me 
fairly started, returned to her couch. From the owner of the cabin I learned that I was now at 
the Kanza agency, and that he was the blacksmith of the place. About sunrise I was awakened 
from a sound sleep, upon a bearskin, by a violent knocking at the door. It was my Indian guide. 
He threw out broad hints respecting the service he had rendered me and the presents he deserved. 
This I could not deny ; but I had nothing to give. I soon found out. however, that his wants were 
moderate and that a small present of powder would satisfy him ; so I filkd his horn, and he left 
the cabin’apparently well pleased. In a short time I left the house, and met the Kanza avent. 
General Clark, a tall, thin, soldier-like man. arrayed in an Indian hunting-shirt and an old fox- 
skin cap. He received me cordially, and I remained with him all day. during which time he talked 
upon metaphysics, discussed politics, and fed me upon sweet potatoes.’’-Indian Sketches, 1835, 
vol. 2, pp. 264-268. 


Note 54 — “ . . . The Kaw Indians had their village at the mouth of the Big Blue, where 

it empties in the Kaw river. After I removed the trading from the south side of the Boone farm 
TKaw Indian farm in Jefferson county] and went and built below the mouth of American Chief 
creek then the Kaw came down near the trading house. The Fool chief built on the north side 
of the river the Hard chief on the west side of the river about two miles then above the mission, 
the American chief on the creek. That was in 1832. As for the village you speak of. about fifteen 
miles above Topeka on the north side of the river, there never was any village there The agent 
had 300 acres of land broke, fenced and planted for them [there] in 1835, and the Fool chief s village 
would go and camp there for a month, dry corn and also pumpkins and gather their beans. I went 
with the agent and selected the most suitable place for a field Also there was 300 acres selected 
on this side of the river for the Hard chief village, between Hard chief and the American Chief 
k P S —I omitted to mention the name of the agent that I went with to select 

the most suitable ground for a field was R. W. Cummins.”—Letter of Frederick Chouteau to W. 

W. Cone, dated Westport. May 5, 1880. , ,, T A . , . , 

The following extracts from Father De Smet’s Indian Sketches are found in an account 



38 


he erected the mission buildings on the northwest corner of section 33, 
township 11, range 14 east. 

The main building was a hewed-log cabin, thirty-six feet long and eighteen 
feet wide, two stories high, divided into four rooms, two above and two 
below, with a stone chimney on the west end of the building on the outside, 
the style of architecture peculiar to the people of the South. There were 
also a log kitchen, smoke-house, and other outbuildings. Mr. and Mrs. 
Johnson moved into this house in September, 1835, and for the next seven 
years labored faithfully among this tribe. They both learned to speak the 
language of the Kaws. Mrs. Johnson was a daughter of Col. William M. 
Chick. She died November 22, 1872. 

Early in March, 1842, Rev. William Johnson, accompanied by his wife, 
went to Independence, Mo., to attend a quarterly meeting, where he was 
taken sick with pneumonia. He recovered in about three weeks, having 
been cared for at the home of Rev. Thomas B. Ruble, visited Westport and 
Shawnee Mission, and then returned to his station at the Kaw mission. In 
April he made a business trip to the Shawnee Mission. The fatigue and 
exposure of the trip of sixty miles caused a relapse of the disease, pneu¬ 
monia. He became rapidly worse, and died April 8, 1842. An Indian mes¬ 
senger was dispatched to the Kaw mission to inform Mrs. Johnson of the 
illness of her husband. About twenty of the most prominent men of the 
tribe accompanied her. Mrs. Johnson arrived an hour after her husband’s 
death. The Indians, having pushed on ahead, arrived a short time before 
the death of their beloved teacher. Mr. Johnson was buried at the Shawnee 
Mission. The funeral sermon was preached by Bishop Roberts, at the con¬ 
ference at Jefferson City, in August, 1842. No children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Johnson. In person Rev. Wm. Johnson was above medium height 
and well formed. He had great influence with the Kaw Indians. They re¬ 
garded him with veneration. It was through his influence that the Kaws 
permitted their children to attend the manual-labor school, and after his 
death the children were taken from the school. 55 Soon after the death of 


of his visit made to Fool chief’s village, in May, 1841: “As soon as the Kanzas understood that we 
were going to encamp on the banks of the Soldier’s river, which is only six miles from the village, 
they galloped rapidly away from our caravan. . . . As for dress, manners, religion, modes of 

making war, etc., the Kanzas are like the savages of their neighborhood, with whom they have 
preserved peaceful and friendly relations from time immemorial. In stature they are gen¬ 
erally tall and well made. Their physiognomy is manly ; their language is guttural and remark¬ 
able for the length and strong accentuation of the final syllables. Their style of singing is 
monotonous, whence it may be inferred that the enchanting music heard on the rivers of Para¬ 
guay never cheers the voyager on the otherwise beautiful streams of the country of the Kanzas. 

“ With regard to the qualities which distinguish man from the brute, they are far from being 
deficient. To bodily strength and courage they unite a shrewdness and address superior to other 
savages, and in their wars or the chase they make a dexterous use of firearms, which gives them 
a decided advantage over their enemies. When we took leave of our hospitable hosts, two of 
their warriors, to one of whom they gave the title of captain, escorted us a short distance on the 
road, which lay thi-ough a vast field which had been cleared and planted for them by the United 
States, but which had been ravaged before the harvest-home.’’ 

Note 55. — “Therehas been considerable exertion made by myself and the Rev. Wm. John¬ 
son, late a missionary among them, to get them to turn their attention to agricultural pursuits. I 
visited them in March last, in company with Mr. Johnson, who resided for several years among 
them, understood and spoke their language well, had become personally acquainted with, and, 
from a correct, honorable, firm course of conduct, he had secured to himself almost unbounded in¬ 
fluence among them. We stayed several days among them; most of that time we spent in coun¬ 
cil with the whole nation, trying to get them to raise corn, etc., enough to subsist them during 
the year. They made very fair promises, and I think that they intended to comply with them at 
the time, but, unfortunately, Mr. Johnson, on his way down to the manual-labor school with 
eleven Kanzas boys, in company with me, at the crossing of the Wakarusa, where we encamped 
for the night, was taken sick, of which he never recovered. The death of this man, whom I con¬ 
sidered one of the best men I ever became acquainted with, was. I believe the greatest loss the 
Kanzas Indians ever met with. His last services expired when he returned the eleven Kanzas 
boys to the manual-labor school, part of which he rendered in great pain. The Kanzas render 



39 


Mr Johnson Rev. G. W. Love was appointed to take charge of the mission, 
u he remained only part of the year. He preached through an interpreter, 
Charles Fish, an educated Indian belonging to the school, and employed by 
the government as blacksmith for the Kaws. 

From the reports made to the conference, it would seem that our mission 
had but ill success among the Kaws; no members are reported for the year 

183o, but one white and one Indian for the year 1836, and for 1837 three 
whites and one Indian. 


In 1844 Mrs. Wm. Johnson 
was married to Rev. J. T. 
Peery, 56 and early in the 
spring of 1845 Mr. Peery was 
sent to the mission for the 
purpose of establishing a 
manual-labor school among 
the Kaws. I make the follow¬ 
ing extract from a letter of 
Mr. Peery to *W. W. Cone, 
dated “ Miami, Saline county, 
Missouri, December30,1880, ’ ’ 
describing the mission prem¬ 
ises: 

“On the southwest was a 
small garden, enclosed, as was 
the yard, with split palings. 
We had a good horse-lot on 
the east; south of the house 
was a field, but no fence about 
it, perhaps twenty acres. 57 
The spring was very wet and 
unfavorable, and we failed to 
raise a good crop. The first 
year I had in my employ a 
young man by the name of 
James Foster, a good young 
man, and others not necessary 
to mention. The next year I was appointed farmer for the Kaws. We had 
about 115 acres of corn. We herded our stock, and put them in pens at 


many excuses for not turning their attention to agricultural pursuits the present year; the 
principal one is, they say they were afraid to work for fear the Pawnees would come on them 
and kill them all off.” Richard W. Cummins, Agent.—Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
1842, p. 63. 

Note 56.— Rev. John Thompson Peery was born in Tazewell county, Virginia, February 18, 
1817. He was converted in 1834, and came with his father’s family to Grundy county, Missouri, 
in the following year. In the winter of 1835 he taught school in Clay county, Missouri. He was 
licensed to preach in 1837. He labored among the Kansas Indians during 1845 and 1846, when he 
was sent to the Cherokees. The next year, 1848, he was appointed missionary to the Wyandots, 
and, in 1849, was at the Shawnee manual-labor school, according to the list of conference ap¬ 
pointments. In 1860 he was transferred to the Kansas conference, and stationed at Leavenworth. 
Mr. Peery was unanimously elected chaplain of the Kansas territorial house of representatives 
on July 16, 1855, the first day of the adjourned session at the manual-labor school.—House Jour¬ 
nal, 1855, p. 34. Three days later the council resolved, “That the president of the council [Rev. 
Thomas Johnson] be instructed by the council to invite Rev. Mr. Peery, or some other minister 
of the Gospel, to open the daily sittings of the council by prayer.”—Council Journal, 1855. p. 39. 
He was one of the leading men of the Missouri conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
South. He died January 5, 1890, and is buried at Drake’s chapel, Henry county, Missouri. He 
spent thirty-eight years in the ministry. 

Note 57.— Daniel Boone, son of the Kaw farmer, wrote Mr. Cone, August 18, 1879: “Ialso 
broke twenty acres of the land referred to by you on Mission creek,” the field mentioned by Mr. 
Peery. 



MRS. MARY JANE JOHNSON-PEERY, nee CHICK, 

For seven years teacher and matron in the Kaw mission 
school, and other years at the manual-labor school. 




40 


night. I employed a young man by the name of Clark to attend to the farm¬ 
ing business. I also employed a young man by the name of b. Cornatzer, 
who proved himself to be a true and useful man. He still lives in Kansas, 
I believe. We raised a very large crop. The agent gave us a part of the 
crop.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Peery kept a few Indian children at the mission and taught 
them through the first year. The school was then discontinued. 59 

An account of the conversion of Fool Chief is given in the Kansas His¬ 
torical Society Collections, vol. 8, p. 426. 

It appears that Rev. Thomas Johnson kept a journal of at least a part of 
the period of his ministry spent in Kansas. This journal, covering an ac¬ 
count of a tour of visitation of several of the missions, was sent to the cor¬ 
responding secretary of the mission society of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, under date of August 11, 1837. The first entry is May 4, 1837, and 
tells of a visit to the Kaw Mission: 


“May 4th [1837]. Set out for the Kanzas mission, in company with the 
Rev. N. Henry, of Independence circuit, Major Cummins, Indian agent, 
and Mr. Cephas Case. The wind blew very hard in the prairie, which ren¬ 
dered it very unpleasant traveling. We stopped early in the evening to 
camp, as there was no good camping-ground in reach had we rode until night. 

“5th. Started early, rode hard all day, and got to the mission a little 
before night. We met some 400 or 500 of the Kanzas Indians going to the 
white settlements to beg provisions, for they had nothing to eat at home. 
And those who had not gone to the white settlements to beg provisions were 
nearly all scattered over the prairies, digging wild potatoes. 

* ‘ 6th. The agent called the principal men together and spent the day in 
counseling with them relative to the various interests of the nation. The 
prospect of these people is very gloomy; and it seems nothing can save 
them from starvation, unless we can get them to adopt the habits of civil¬ 
ized people; and this is not likely to be done, unless they can be brought 
under the influence of the Christian religion—and this cannot be done at 
present, for the want of suitable means of access to them. Oh, that God 
may open the way, and speedily give us access to these people! We made 
arrangements to take a few children into the mission family, and gave each 
of the chiefs the privilege of furnishing one, either his own son or some 
other boy whom he may select. 

“7th. Bro. Henry preached for us an interesting sermon. 

“8th. Started for home, rode forty miles, and encamped at the same 
place where we camped as we went up. I slept quite comfortably, notwith¬ 
standing the ground was my bed, having but one blanket to cover me. 

“9th. Got home and was glad to find my family well. 

“13th. Met the school committee at the Shawnee Mission to organize our 
school for another year. All appear to act in harmony, and sustain the 
school. It is, certainly, a great help in an Indian school when we can get a 
judicious committee of natives to take the responsibility of making the 
rules for the government of the Indian children, and then to see that the 
children attend the school. 

“June 6th. Bro. A. Monroe, presiding elder of the Missouri district, 
arrived, having been appointed at our last conference, in connection with 
Bros. Redman and Henry, to visit our missions. 

“7th. We set out for the Peori mission. Had a pleasant time in travel¬ 
ing through the prairie and talking over our various matters relative to the 
state of the church in the Missouri conference. A little before night we 


Note 58.— Samuel Cornatzer was employed a while as a laborer at the Shawnee Mission 
and also had charge of the Kaw mission after the death of the Rev. Wm. Johnson. About 1850 
he married an Indian girl who had been educated at the Shawnee Mission He then built a 
house and opened a farm near the point where the Santa Fe road crosses 110 Mile creek Osajre 
county. He died a few years ago in the Cherokee nation. Indian Territory U ge 


Note 59.—Cutler’s History of Kansas, 1883, p. 60. 




41 


arrived at the Peori mission, and met with Bros. Redman, Henry, and 
Ashby, who had gone another route and got there before us. 

“8th. Held meeting twice; had a very interesting meeting in the even- 
mg. We were very busy all day in attending meeting, making out an in¬ 
voice of mission property, etc. 

“9th. We rode to Shawnee Mission. Spent the principal part of the day 
discussing various questions relative to the financial part of our missions, to 
see if our plans could be improved. These discussions caused the time to 
pass off much more pleasantly than it generally does while traveling through 
these extensive prairies alone. 

“10th. We met the Saganaw mission; but few attended until late in the 
evening. They then crowded the house, and we had a pleasant time. 

“11th. The Sabbath. We held a love-feast in the morning. Each re¬ 
lated the dealings of God with his own soul, in his own language. At eleven 
o’clock Bro. Monroe preached, and then administered the sacrament. We 
took up a collection for the poor and sick of the church—it amounted to 
twenty dollars. At the close of the sacramental services a call was given 
for mourners to come forward, and a considerable number came; we found 
it expedient to close, and meet again at four o’clock p. m. We met again 
in the evening. I have no doubt that this two days’ meeting will prove a 
blessing to the Shawnees and Delawares. 

“14th. Met with the Delawares. After preaching we had class-meeting. 
We were much edified in hearing the Delawares tell the state of their souls. 
What they said was interpreted into English, so that our visiting brethren 
could understand it. 

“17th and 18th. Held a two days’ meeting with the Kickapoos. On the 
Sabbath we held a love-feast in the morning and administered the sacrament 
at noon. More than 200 communed, and 400 or 500 were present; nearly all 
appeared affected. It was to me a time of unusual interest, to see and hear 
the Christian Indians of different nations, speaking different languages, all 
uniting their petitions at a throne of grace, and all wrought upon by the 
same spirit. 

“20th. Brs. Monroe, Redman, and Henry, having closed the labors for 
which they were appointed, left us, and started for their different fields of 
labor. We have no doubt but their visit to the missions will be attended 
with much good; for 1st, it is well calculated to strengthen the hands of the 
missionaries to have their brethren visit them occasionally, and unite with 
them in their labors, aid them by their counsels, and report the true state 
of our missions to the conference and to the world, and thus save the mis¬ 
sionaries from the embarrassment of always being compelled to report their 
own work. 2d. It will, we have no doubt, be a lasting blessing to the brethren 
thus sent. They will, from their own observations, be much better prepared 
to plead the cause of missions in their respective charges. 3d. It will be a 
help to the Indians to know that our brethren feel so much interest in their 
welfare; that they have been influenced to visit our missions and unite with 
the missionaries to promote the cause of religion among their people.” 

“In a further report,[which is full and satisfactory, Mr. Johnson states: 

‘1st. The Shawnee Mission went on as at the time of the last report. 
Pastoral labor was becoming more arduous and difficult. That the crops 
were short from drought. Hoped they should have a sufficiency. 

‘2d. The Delaware mission was prospering. The Christian party was 
likely to be strengthened by emigrants. That they were repairing build¬ 
ings, organizing schools, ana anticipating good results. 

‘3d. Peori mission. The principal men appeared to remain firm, though 
some appearances of a loss of zeal and animation among professors. The 
native leaders faithful, and worthy to be taken as examples by the whites. 
A small school kept up. The missionaries preach to different bands con¬ 
nected with this mission. Many in the church who would do no disgrace to 
any church, but are worthy to be copied. 

‘4th. Kickapoo mission. Doing well; their number diminished by the 
Pottawatomies who were among them removing to their own lands. School 


42 


doing well. The work increases in importance, and many going forward in 

‘5th. Kanzas mission. The missionary had visited the Osage nation in 
hopes of finding a good interpreter to aid in preaching to the Kanzas. a 

few children under instruction. „ _ _ , . . . * 

‘6th. Potawattamy mission. More than 100 of Pottawatomies joined 
at Kickapoo mission and have recently removed to their own lands, request¬ 
ing a missionary may reside among them. The Rev. Dr Leach appointed. 
He sees little prospect of success until they get settled. —History of Am. 
Missions to the Heathen, Spooner and Howland, 1840, pp. 543-545, in back ot 
volume. 

The report of the mission society, from which the above extract is made, 
shows that for the entire Kansas mission district there were six stations, 
employing twelve missionaries and five school-teachers. There were 397 
members of the church, 23 whites and 374 natives, and 78 scholars. The 
report says: “These have already made delightful progress in learning. 
The people are advancing in agriculture and the arts. Let the friends of 
the missions bless God and take courage.” 

In 1846 the government made another treaty with the Kaws, by which 
they relinquished their rights to the lands on the Kansas for another location 
at Council Grove, where they received a grant of 256,000 acres. 60 A few 
months previous to the removal of the Indians to Council Grove, Mr. Peery 
was appointed missionary to the Cherokees, and Mr. Mitchell, government 
blacksmith for the Kaws, moved into the mission buildings, and resided 
there till the spring of 1847. Then Isaac Mundy, blacksmith for the Potta¬ 
watomies, occupied it until the spring of 1850. At this time a half-breed 
Pottawatomie, Joseph Bourassa, moved into it, and remained there till 1853, 
when he tore the buildings down and removed the logs about one mile 
north, and there erected another residence. It is to be regretted that pic¬ 
tures of our mission buildings, with two exceptions, are not in existence. 

In 1847 the Kaws moved to their new reservation. The mission building, 
a picture of which appears elsewhere in this volume, was erected in 1850 by 
the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Funds 61 were paid annually by the 
government for the support of the school. The walls of the building are of 
stone, quarried out of the bluffs near by. The woodwork is from the na¬ 
tive timber of the grove. It is now altered, and occupied as a residence. 
Originally it had eight rooms in the main part, and there were some out¬ 
buildings. At each end there are two large, projecting fireplace chimneys. 
The building is a stone structure and is yet in good repair. 

The mission and school at Council Grove were in charge of T. S. Huffaker 
and Rev. Henry Webster, the latter a Methodist minister from some place 
in Massachusetts. Mr. Webster had charge of the farming and stock and Mrs. 
Webster presided over the culinary department. The school was in charge 
of Mr. Huffaker, who had previously been employed several years as teacher 
in the Shawnee manual-labor school. The school was attended almost en¬ 
tirely by Indian boys. George P. Morehouse writes me that— 

“The Indians were never in sympathy with the movement and never al- 

Note 60. —“Twenty miles square.”—John Maloy, History of Morris county, ch. 2, published in 
The Cosmos, Council Grove, March 5. 1886. 

Note 61— The treaty of 1846, article 2 says: “. . . One thousand dollars of the interest 
thus accruing shall be applied annually to the purposes of education in their own country ” — 
Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treaties, Washington, 1904, vol. 2, p. 553. Mr Huffaker says that the 
mission building at Mission creek was built by the government. When the Kaws moved it was 
sold, and the money applied towards the new school building at Council Grove 




43 


lowed their girls to enter the school. Indian girls are betrothed by their 
parents (in fact, sold) when they are very young. They regarded education 
and adopting the ways of the white man degrading and beneath true Indian 
caste and character. With this opposition, the school was principally com¬ 
posed of orphan children. The interpreter was ‘Wm. Johnson,’ a rather 
smart, good-looking Indian, named after Rev. Wm. Johnson, the first mis¬ 
sionary to the Kaw or Kansas tribe. I have been told that Mr. Johnson, on 
his death-bed, after reviewing his seven years’ labor among the Kaws, said 
that it had accomplished little, as he knew of but one truly converted Indian, 
Sho-me-kos-see (the wolf). I understand that he advised against further 
work among them. 62 While missionary work here at Council Grove was not 
productive of much visible good along religious lines, yet when I recently 
asked Mr. Huffaker what his judgment was, he said it was difficult to see 
much improvement in them as the results of missions and schools, except 
literary improvement. The Kaws were a peculiar tribe, very heathenish 
and superstitious, and not nearly as susceptible to education and religious 
instruction as most of the other tribes.” 

Mr. Huffaker has furnished me the following account of the mission and 
its work: 

“The school for the Kansas Indians at Council Grove was established in 
the year 1851. The building was erected in 1850. The fund for the build¬ 
ing and maintenance of the school was furnished by the government out of 
funds due the Indians and held by the government in trust for this purpose. 
Rev. Thomas Johnson, of the Shawnee Mission, was authorized by the board 
of missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church South to contract for the 
buildings and for the management of the school. I, with H. W. Webster, 
took the contract for the management of the school and farm. Webster was 
married; I was single. Webster and family remained one year; he in charge 
of the farm, I in charge of the school. His family became dissatisfied so 
far from civilization and society, and returned to their adopted state, and I 
continued the school until 1854. There was during this period a blacksmith 
for the Indians named E. Mosier. The school averaged about thirty pupils, 
all boys. The Indians did not receive any religious instruction at this time— 
I mean the tribe as such. Religious observances were kept in the school 
and families. The branches taught were spelling, reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. None of them received instruction in the trades. The boys 
worked well on the farm. ’ ’ 

Mr. Huffaker was married in the old mission building on the 6th of May, 
1852, to Miss Eliza Baker, the officiating clergyman being a Rev. Mr. Nichol¬ 
son, a missionary on his way over the old Santa Fe trail to Mexico, who was 
stopping at the Kaw mission. Susie, their first daughter, was the first white 
child born in Morris county. 

While our mission work among the Kaws ceased in 1854 with Mr. Huf- 
faker’s retirement from the mission, yet he seems to have continued his 
work among this tribe as “farmer for the Kaw Indians,” as the following 
report to the commissioner of Indian affairs will show: 

‘ 1 Kansas Agency, September 15, 1863. 

“ Sir—I submit this as my report for the past year as farmer for the Kan¬ 
sas Indians. The Indians are still laboring under the same disadvantages 
mentioned in my last annual report, the same insufficient number of oxen, 
plows, and other agricultural implements; but they have, notwithstanding 
these difficulties, been able to plant more than 300 acres of ground, from 
wh ich they will gather some 8000 or 9000 bushels of corn. They have de- 

Note 62. —The missionary workers among the Kaws seem to have felt great discouragement 
in the results of their labors, apparently comparing the habits and manner of thought of this 
wholly uncivilized Western tribe with those of the half-civilized Shawnees, Delawares and 
Wyandots who were brought into this territory about the time civilization and mission work 
was offered to the Kansas. Many of the Shawnees in 1830 were half-breeds of good family, 
while among the Wyandots the last full-blood died early in the nineteenth century. 



44 


voted most of their time to the raising of corn, being better acquainted with 
the culture of corn than of other products. Many families have been enable 
to cultivate their farms as they should, owing to the fact that many ot tneir 
able-bodied men have gone into the army, of whom more than eighty nave 
enlisted in the United States service during the last year, lhe Indians are 
well pleased with their new mode of life, and say they do not desire t0 ex¬ 
change their present mode for their former. They, to commence another 
year favorably, should be furnished with an additional number of oxen, plows, 
etc.: say twice the number they now have. T. S. Huffaker, 

Farmer for Kansas Indians. 


THE DELAWARE MISSION. 

The history of the Delawares is intimately connected with that of the 
Shawnees. Their reservation originally extended from the mouth of the 
Kansas river westward to the Kaw reservation, and embraced 2,208,000 
acres. 63 It was on the north side of the Kansas river, a very fertile section, 
and embraced Wyandotte, practically all of Leavenworth and Jefferson and 
portions of Shawnee and Jackson counties. Their reservation fronted on 
the Missouri river, from the mouth of the Kansas river to Fort Leaven¬ 
worth. 64 In numbers they did not differ greatly from the Shawnees. The 
Delaware lands were mostly fine prairie interspersed with good timber. 
Their lands were considered the most valuable of all the territory occupied 
by the Indian tribes. Though the Delawares were considerably advanced in 
agriculture, they had but little literary culture. They were an energetic and 
enterprising people. 

The mission among the Delawares was opened in 1832, Rev. Wm. John¬ 
son and Rev. Thomas B. Markham having been appointed to take charge of 
the mission and school. The first report of membership was made the fol¬ 
lowing year—five whites and twenty-seven Indians. 

The fifteenth annual report of the missionary society, for 1834, contains 
the following: 

“Delaware, a gracious work of religion—forty church members, several 
of whom officiate as exhorters, regular in attendance at preaching and other 
means of grace. The school has twenty-four native children, who are learn¬ 
ing well. In the Sabbath-school are fourteen male and ten female scholars, 
conducted by three teachers and one superintendent. The children are cate¬ 
chized in the duties and doctrines of Christianity. ’ ’ 

Rev. Nathan Scarritt, in an unpublished manuscript, says: 

“Though many of the best membeis of the tribe embraced Christianity, 
the membership was never large, owing, as we suppose, to the strong preju¬ 
dice exhibited by the great majority against all Christian effort among them ; 
but a better little body of professing Christians would be hard to find among 
any people than was gathered together by our faithful missionaries. Moses 
Grinter and family, 65 the Ketchums, and others, were of the salt of the 
earth.” 


Note 63.— Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1836, p. 397. 

Note 64.— Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treaties, Washington, 1904, vol. 2, p. 304. 

Note 65.— Moses R. Grinter came from Bardstown, Ky., and settled in what is now Wyan¬ 
dotte county, Kansas, in January, 1831. His place was about nine miles out from Kansas City,, 
and for a while was known as a station on the Union Pacific named Secondine. He died June 12, 
1878. His wife, Mrs. Anna Marshall Grinter, was born in Miami county, Ohio, January 8, 1820, 
and died in Wyandotte county, Kansas, June 28, 1905. Her father was a white man, and her- 
mother a Delaware Indian. She came to Wyandotte with her parents in 1832. She was married 
to Moses R. Grinter, the first white man to locate in Wyandotte county. To this union there was 
born ten children, four of whom survive her. There were twenty-one grandchildren, thirty-six 
great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren. She was very proud of the fact that 
she was an Indian. Her last audible prayer was in the musical Delaware Indian language. She 



45 


The highest membership reported for any year was 108, for 1844. In 
educational matters the Delawares did not make as commerfdable progress 
as some of the other tribes. In February, 1844, an agreement 66 was made 
with the superintendent, J. C. Berryman, by which the Delawares devoted 
all their school fund for the education of their children at the Shawnee 
manual-labor school for a term of ten years. The indifference of the Dela¬ 
wares in the matter of sending their children to the school was later a great 
disappointment to the superintendent, Rev. Thomas Johnson. 

The first church erected was in 1832, near a spring, in a beautiful grove, 
some of the old trees of which are still standing. The church was about 
forty by sixty feet, the frame of black walnut, and stood on the high divide 
on the site of the present town of White Church, facing east. The church 


was converted and united with the Methodist church in childhood. aqd for more than seventy 
years lived a consistent Christian life. When the church separated she adhered to the Southern 
church, in which she spent the remainder of her life. Her body rests in the cemetery at Grinter’s 
chapel, where she held her membership for many years. 


Note 66. —“ We, the undersigned chiefs of the Delaware nation, being invested with full au¬ 
thority to act in the premises for our nation whom we represent, do agree and bind ourselves as 
follows, viz.: 

“That we will encourage and patronize the Indian manual-labor school now in operation 
on the Shawnees’ land, near the Fort Leavenworth agency site: First, by using our influence to 
send and keep a suitable number of the children of our tribe in said institution; and, secondly, 
by applying our school funds to its support; and our great father, the president of the United 
States, is hereby instructed and respectfully requested to cause to be paid over to Rev. J. C. 
Berryman, now superintendent of said institution, or to his successor in office, the entire pro¬ 
ceeds or interest arising on all our school funds annually, for the ensuing ten years, together 
< with all arrearages due us to this time on said funds. 

“And the said J, C. Berryman, in behalf of said institution, agrees to receive and educate 
any number of Delaware children — not exceeding fifty at any one time, without the consent of 
said superintendent of said institution. It is herein understood that the Delaware children from 
time to time sent to the above-mentioned institution are to be comfortably clad and boarded at 
its expense. 

“And we, the undersigned chiefs, wish it to be understood that the instructions herein given 
to our great father, the president, respecting our school funds, are intended to supersede all in¬ 
structions previously given contrary to the spirit and intention of this agreement, and our agent, 
Maj. R. W. Cummins, is hereby requested to forward this agreement to the department, at 
Washington city, with such explanations as he may think proper to give. 

“ February 28, 1844. J. C. Berryman. 


Capt. Nah-koomer, his X mark. 
Capt. Ketchum, his X mark. 
Sackendiather, his X mark. 
Sankochia, his X mark. 
Cochatowha, his X mark. 

“ Witness; Richard W. Cummins, Indian Agent .” 


Salt Petre, his X mark. 
Nahgennan, his X mark. 

P. M. Scott, his X mark. 
John Peters, his X mark. 
Capt. Swanac, his X mark. 


“I certify, on honor, that the above and foregoing agreement, made and entered into on the 
28th of February, 1844, by and between the Rev. J. C. Berryman, superintendent of the manual- 
labor school now in operation among the Shawnees under the Fort Leavenworth agency [and the 
chiefs of the Delaware tribe of Indians], was by me carefully read and explained to the Delaware 
chiefs whose names are thereunto annexed, and that they well understood its contents, and that 
it contained the agreement and understanding which they had made with the Rev. J. C. Berry¬ 
man, superintendent Indian manual-labor school, and that the Delaware chiefs made their marks 
to their names thereunto annexed in my presence. Richard W. Cummins, Indian Agent.” 

“I have read with interest and pleasure the agreement of the 28th of February last, between 
the superintendent of the Methodist manual-labor school and the chiefs of the Delaware tribe of 
Indians, by which they devote all their school funds to the education of the children of said tribe 
at said institution for the next ten years; during which time the entire amount of the interest 
accrued, accruing and to accrue shall be paid to the said superintendent, or his successor in 
office. 

“I am glad to see this agreement; it manifests a friendly disposition to education. I do not 
see any objection to its conditional ratification by the department. The interest they are enti¬ 
tled to receive annually is $2844, and the arrearages of unpaid interest are upwards of $2000. The 

terms I would impose are: , .... . , , 

“1st. That there shall be always at least thirty Delaware children in a course of education 
at said school; and if at any time or for any period there shall be fewer than thirty under in¬ 
struction, the sum to be paid the superintendent shall abate $100 for every scholar short of the 

required number of thirty. , .. ,, 

“2d That one-half of the scholars shall be female, as near as may be practicable. 

“3d That in addition to the comfortable board and clothing stipulated for, there shall be 
furnished to every scholar, should he or she unfortunately require it, proper medical aid and ad¬ 
vice- and still further, books, stationery and whatever else shall be necessary to the successful 
prosecution of their studies and to their comfort and health. 

“4th. The interest to be paid annually, where it may suit the treasury; and this ratification 



46 



MRS. ANNA M. GRINTER, 


was frame and painted white, the 
structure thus giving name to the 
town. It was about the center 
of Wyandotte county, and some 
eight miles west of Kansas City, 
Kan. It was destroyed by a tor¬ 
nado in May, 1886. A stone me¬ 
morial church was recently erected 
on the site of the one destroyed. 67 

In the separation troubles of 
1845 the Delawares went with 
their church into the Southern 
branch. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church South has a society at 
White Church at the present time. 
In the early days a log parsonage 
was erected, a camp-ground was 
laid out, and camp-meetings were 
held for many years. 

The following is an abstract 
from the report of Thos. Mosely, 
jr., Indian agent, for the year 
1851: 


“In this tribe [Delawares], I 
find only one school; the report of 
the Rev. Mr. Pratt is herewith 
sent, marked ‘ D. ’ This indefati¬ 
gable missionary deserves great 
praise for the management and conducting of this school, whose benefits are 
so valuable to the Delaware tribe, being the only school within the limits of 
the tribe. 

“From my experience among the Indians, which has been for years, I 
am of the opinion that, with the less-civilized Indians, schools should be 
scattered about in all the strong bands of a tribe. This would afford the 
parents an opportunity to often visit them. The Indians are remarkably 
fond of their children, and it is a difficult matter to get them to send them 
far from home.' 

“The Delawares have disposed of their education fund for several years 
yet to come; it being vested in the Shawnee Mission manual-labor school. 
They have (for some cause not correctly known to me) refused to send their 
children to the Shawnee Mission school, which their fund sustains, for the 
space of a year. I feel in great hope that, with my aid, the Shawnee Mis¬ 
sion superintendent will be able to get back to his school some twenty or 
thirty of the Delaware children. 

“The Delaware mill, which was built by the Methodist missionary board 


Member of the Delaware tribe; died in 1905, at the 
age of eighty-five, and oldest of five genera¬ 
tions; for more than seventy years a commu¬ 
nicant in the Methodist church; supposed to 
be the last of the immigrants that came from 
Ohio in 1832. 


to be subject to withdrawal, and the agreement itself to rescission, and to be annulled at the 
pleasure of the department. 

“ 5th. Reports of the number and progress of the Delaware scholars to be made prior to the 
annual payment. 

“ Respectfully submitted, April 22, 1844. T. Hartley Crawford ” 


‘ Approved, with this additional stipulation and condition; That the first within article shall 
not in any way impair or change the number of children agreed in the treaty to be educated 
That article is meant to limit the minimum number; but if more Delaware children shall be sent 
to the school, not exceeding in all fifty, they shall be received and educated upon the terms men- 
tioned. William Wilkins. 

April 22, 1844. 

(Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1844, pp. 368-370.) 


Note 67.—The church contains memorial windows for early missionaries. 










47 


as a boon for their education for a term of years, is now a complete wreck. 
I have visited it, and recommended the chiefs to retain $3000 out of the 
money they received from the Wyandots, which they did, for the purpose of 
rebuilding the mill; but whether they will expend it for that purpose is, I am 
tearful, uncertain. The tribe is anxious it should be rebuilt, as there is not 
a mill in the Indian country near, but the chiefs seem to feel indifferent. ” 

(Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1851, p. 80.) 

The quarterly meetings for the Delaware and Wyandot missions were 
held alternately between the two nations. Rev. W. H. Goode describes 
one held among the Delawares in 1855, which was largely attended, quite a 
number being present from the neighboring tribes—Delawares, Wyandots, 
Shawnees, Kickapoos and Stockbridges all participating in the exercises and 
each speaking in his own tongue. 68 

A prominent man among the Delawares was Charles Ketchum, for many 
years a preacher in the Methodist church. In appearance he was large and 
portly, of manly appearance and address. He was illiterate, but a man of 
good intellect and a fluent talker. When the church divided, in 1845, he ad¬ 
hered to the Northern branch, built a church himself, and kept the little 
remnant of the flock together. 69 He was settled on a good farm and re¬ 
ceived appointments from the conference regularly. He entered the min¬ 
istry in 1850 and was a regular member of the Kansas conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. Rev. Joab Spencer writes: “Charles and 
James Ketchum have both interpreted for me. Charles interpreted a ser¬ 
mon for me at a Delaware camp-meeting that resulted in from fifteen to 
twenty conversions. He was a notable Christian character, such as Blue¬ 
jacket.” Charles Ketchum died on the Delaware reserve, July 20, 1860, 
aged forty-nine years. 

In the History of the Delawares, by Charles R. Green, of Lyndon, Kan., 
p. 175, is the following concerning Rev. James Ketchum: 

“Rev. James Ketchum was born in 1819. He was a convert to the Metho¬ 
dist Episcopal faith in youth, preaching in his own language at White Church, 
Wyandotte county, Kansas, and to a portion of the Delawares in the Chero¬ 
kee nation, after their removal, in 1868, and was considered one of the most 
eloquent orators of the Delaware tribe.” 

He is now dead. Mr. Green also states that Lewis Ketchum was still 
living in 1903, ten miles southeast of Vinita, I. T., between eighty and ninety 
years of age, the oldest member of his tribe. 

Prominent among the missionaries among the Delawares were the brothers 
E. T. and J. Thompson Peery, Learner B. Stateler, 70 and N. M. Talbot. 
The name of Rev. W. C. Ellefrit occurs in the list of missionaries for 1837. 


Note 68.— Outposts of Zion, p. 307. 


Note 69.— Id., p. 296. 

Note 70.—Rev. Learner Blackman Stateler was born near Hartford, Ohio county, 
Kentucky, July 7, 1811. He was of German parentage. He was licensed to preach in 1830, and 
the next year made his way from Kentucky to Missouri on horseback. In 1833 he was sent as 
missionary to the Creek Indians. In 1837 he was appointed to the Delaware Indian mission, 
where he remained till 1840, when he was transferred to the Shawnee Mission, where he re¬ 
mained till 1844, in which year he was appointed presiding elder of the Choctaw district, Indian 
Territory. In 1845 he returned to Shawnee and served as presiding elder of the Kansas River 
district, Methodist Episcopal Church South, till 1850. In 1862 he took charge of the work in 
Denver, and later was a missionary to Montana, where he died, May 1, 1895, having spent sixty- 
five years on the Western frontier. He was married in 1836 to Melinda Purdom, a native of 
North Carolina. She served as matron and manager of the girls’ boarding-house at the Shawnee 
manual-labor school for a short time. She died in Montana in 1889. 



48 



REV. JAMES KETCHUM, 
Delaware chief and interpreter. 


He was no doubt a teacher, as his name does not appear in the list of minis¬ 
terial appointments. 

The interpreters for the Northern branch of the church were Isaac Johnny- 
cake, Paschal Fish, and Charles Ketchum; those for the Southern branch, 
James Ketchum, Jacob Ketchum, and Ben. Love. Henry Tiblow was the 
United States interpreter. 

I am indebted in the preparation of this paper to Geo. U. S. Hovey, of 
White Church, Kan. Mr. Hovey died at White Church January 7, 1906. 

THE KICKAPOO MISSION. 

The Kickapoos occupied a reservation in northeastern Kansas which is 
now parts of Brown, Atchison and Jackson counties. Their country lay 
north of the Delawares, extending up the Missouri river twenty miles in a 
direct line, then northwestward about sixty miles, and thence south twenty 




49 


miles to the Delaware line, and included 768,000 acres. 71 As a tribe, the 
Kickapoos are thus described by Rev. W. H. Goode, who visited this reser¬ 
vation in the early days: 

“The numbers of this tribe are considerable; their lands were good. In 
character and general improvements they are a degree below the tribes just 
now noticed—the Wyandots, Shawnees, and Delawares—have no very promi¬ 
nent men, and have attracted less attention. Some missionary effort has 
been expended among them, the results of which are still seen in the piety 
of some of the tribe. Among them the prophet Ken-i-kuk 72 appeared to run 
his race. His vagaries were a serious drawback to the work; though it is 
believed that he afterward became a true penitent.” 

In civilization their condition was similar to that of the Weas and Peorias. 
A mission was organized in 1833, 73 and Rev. Jerome C. Berryman 74 appointed 
to the work in the fall of that year, continuing in charge of it till the fall of 
1841. The Kickapoos lived on the southeastern extremity of their lands, 
near Fort Leavenworth, and here our mission was situated. Rev. J. C. 
Berryman gives the following interesting account of his introduction to the 
work among the Kickapoos: 

‘ ‘ The Kickapoos had been but recently removed from Illinois [and Missouri] 
to their new location on the Missouri river, and were still living only in wig¬ 
wams. In fact, they had never been, properly speaking, settled, but had 
always led a roving life. On my first visit to them at their village, I was 


Note 71.—Treaty of 1832, Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treaties, Washington, 1904, vol. 2, p. 365; 
see, also. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1836, p. 397. 

Note 72.—“ Kelukuk, alias the Kickapoo prophet, one of the Kickapoo chiefs, is a professed 
preacher, of an order which he himself originated some years ago. His adherents are about 400 
in number, some of whom are small boys and girls. He professes to receive all that he teaches 
immediately from the Great Spirit by a supernatural agency. He teaches abstinence from the 
use of ardent spirits, the observation of the Sabbath, and some other good morals. He appears 
to have little knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity, only as his dogmas happen to agree 
with them. Congregational worship is performed four days in the week, and lasts from one to 
three hours.”- Isaac McCoy, Annual Register of Indian Affairs, No. 2, pp. 31, 32. For a more 
extended account, see reference. 

The post village Kennekuk, Atchison county, formerly the agency of the Kickapoos, was 
named for this chief. 

Note 73.—McCoy’s Annual Register of Indian Affairs, January, 1835, p. 30. 

Note 74.— In 1833 Mr. Berryman was appointed to the Kickapoo Indian mission and school. 
As no mission had yet been established among the Kickapoos in Kansas, the appointment meant 
that he was to open a station, collect children, and start a school. As soon as shelter could be 
secured, Brother Berryman and wife entered on the work. It was her part to act as matron and 
teach; in fact, the work of the school fell to her lot, but she was equal to the task. She was well 
endowed and well equipped for the place, which she held with success for eight years, when Mr. 
Berryman was removed to the Shawnee manual-labor school, where Mrs. Berryman was connected 
with that school till her death, which occurred July 28, 1846. Then the loved sister and mother, 
as the Indians called her, was laid to rest in the mission burying-ground, where she now sleeps. 

Jerome Cousin Berryman was born in Ohio county, Kentucky, in 1810. He came to Missouri 
in 1828. Soon after he was licensed to preach, and that same year was admitted into the Missouri 
conference. For five years he served the white work in Missouri, and in 1833 was appointed mis¬ 
sionary to the Kickapoos, at their village, not very far from Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He re¬ 
mained in charge of this mission for eight years. In 1841 he was appointed superintendent of the 
Indian manual-labor school, where he remained for six years, having a part of this time charge 
of the Indian Mission conference. At the conference of 1847 he was taken from the Indian work 
and placed on Cape Girardeau district as presiding elder. From this date we find him serving 
district and station, and engaged in the educational work of the church. He was the last 
surviving member of the general conference of 1844. Mr. Berryman and Miss Mary C. Cissna 
were married in Kentucky, October 6, 1831. . . 

While reading proof on this paper the author received a copy of the bt. Louis Republican 
with a special from Birmingham, Ala., where the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church South was in session, reporting that the news of the death of Rev. J. C. Berryman, at 
Caledonia Mo., had caused profound sorrow among the members of the Missouri delegation. He 
died on May 8 soon after answering a greeting from the conference. He was the oldest Method¬ 
ist minister having celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday in February. His reply to the greeting 
was • “Please convey to the conference and church at large fraternal benediction, with the as¬ 
surance that I am still preaching from the grand text. Job xix, 25, “For I know that my re¬ 
deemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” After hearing of his 
death the following resolution was passed by the general conference: We have heard with sor¬ 
row of the death of the Rev. J. C. Berryman, the sole survivor of the historic general conference 
of 1844 at the close of almost a century of heroic faith and tireless labor for Christ.” 

-4 



50 


alone and spent a night with them, occupying a wigwam with a large family 
of Indians. Around the interior of the wigwam were spread on the ground 
mats made of rushes, of which, also, the wigwam itself was constructed, 
and these served all the purposes of chairs, tables, and beds. The manner 
of going to bed I observed was for each person to wrap himself or herself 
in a blanket and lie down on these mats. I of course followed the example, 
and having a large Mackanaw blanket of my own, used it in like manner, 
without the formality of undressing. But tired nature’s sweet restorer re¬ 
fused to visit my wakeful lids, and seemed content to lodge only with my 
new and very strange companions for that night. It did not take me long 
to have some log-cabin buildings erected for my family, and a schoolhouse 
of the same sort in which to open a school; and by midwinter I had about 
ninety children in attendance. Here for eight consecutive years, with my 
faithful wife and other helpers, I labored in teaching the young and the old; 
often preaching to the soldiers at the fort, and also frequently visiting and 
helping at the other mission stations among the Shawnees, Delawares, 
Peorias, and Pottawatomies. In the fall of 1841 Nathaniel M. Talbot was 
taken from Peoria mission and appointed to Kickapoo, and I was put in 
charge at the Indian manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson’s health having 
failed, so that he had to leave. Our work was greatly owned and blessed of 
God in the Christianizing and civilizing of hundreds of Indians. 

“Returning from the conference at Cane Hill, Ark., to St. Charles county, 
Missouri, where I had left my wife, I made haste to get up a traveling outfit 
suitable for the occasion; and soon, with what was then called a carryall, 
wagon, and a good horse, I was on the road for Kickapoo mission, distant 
about 275 miles, accompanied by my wife and a young woman who went 
along as company and help for her. We arrived at Shawnee Mission in 
about eight or ten days, twenty-five miles short of our final destination; for 
Kickapoo mission, as yet only on paper, was still that distance further up 
the Missouri river, near Fort Leavenworth. A few days’ rest at Shawnee, 
and then Brother Thomas Johnson and myself went on up to Fort Leaven¬ 
worth for the purpose of consultation with the government officials and the 
Indians about the location of the contemplated mission among the Kicka- 
poos.” 

The work among this tribe seems to have been prosperous from the start, 
the report for the year 1834 showing that 2 whites and 230 Indians were en¬ 
rolled in the mission and school. Rev. John Monroe was appointed this year 
to assist Mr. Berryman. The fifteenth annual report of the missionary so¬ 
ciety, for the year 1834, refers to the Kickapoos as follows: 

“Flourishing. A church recently organized of 230 members, of natives 
belonging to the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies, some of whom formerly be¬ 
longed to the Iroquois mission. ’ ’ 

Mr. Berryman, in some reminiscences, thus speaks of his appointment to 
this work, his arduous labors as conference superintendent, and pays a 
beautiful tribute to his devoted wife and helper: 

“I have ever believed that my marriage had much to do in procuring this 
appointment for me. My wife was eminently fitted for work of this kind 
and it was essential to success that the missionary should have with him a 
suitable companion, who could be at once the sharer of his privations and 
toils, and fill the position of mother and matron in the mission school In 
all these respects the woman I had married proved herself inferior to none 
She was universally loved by her associates and the Indians, many of whom 
delighted to call her sister and mother. She finished her work in great 
peace, at Shawnee manual-labor school, on the 28th of July, 1846 having- 
spent twelve of the best years of her life feeding the lambs of’Christ’s 
flock, and now sleeps in the grave by the side of the Johnsons and other 
missionary coworkers, at the place where she died. 

“I spent eight years at Kickapoo mission, and six at the Indian manual- 


51 


labor school and in the superintendency of the Indian Mission conference, 
which was organized at the general conference of 1844. It embraced the 
entire Indian Territory, then extending from the Missouri river on the 
north to Red river on the south, a distance of 500 miles along the border of 
the states of Missouri and Arkansas, and included the following tribes: 
Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Senecas, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, 
Munsees, Osages, Pawnees, Kansas, Quapaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Choc¬ 
taws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles. My duty in this superintendency re¬ 
quired frequent long journeys performed on horseback, generally alone, 
lodging in Indian cabins, and taking such fare as their scanty supplies af¬ 
forded, yet sometimes even in Indian families I enjoyed such hospitality as 
would do credit to the best homes in civilized communities.” 

The school established in 1833 numbered in 1835 forty scholars. The 
children were boarded at the mission house and “taught gratuitously. All 
dine at the mission house on school days; and eight of them are supported 
by the mission. ” 75 In 1836 Mr. Berryman was employed by the government 
to teach in its school, receiving as compensation a salary of $480 a year. 76 
“Receiving his support from the Methodist missionary society, [he] applies 
the salary which he receives from the government as teacher to the support 
of the native scholars and to other purposes of the mission. The mission 
buildings and the United States schoolhouse are on the same grounds.” 
Only six scholars were reported in the government school this year. 77 

For the year 1839, Mr. Berryman reported but sixteen scholars in the 
mission school, that number being the average for a year or two previous. 
In his report he says: 

“These are tolerably regular, though of late, through the detrimental 
influence of the prophet and others, we have found it difficult to keep the 
children in regular and orderly attendance, and it seems to me that at pres¬ 
ent it is almost impracticable to keep our school under good discipline and 
management while the children can, at any moment when they become dis¬ 
satisfied, abscond and go home with impunity. * ’ 

£The teacher employed by our missionary society this year was Miss 
Elizabeth Lee. The branches taught were geography, arithmetic, reading, 
writing, and spelling. The scholars, twelve boys and three girls, were pro¬ 
vided with American names, as follows: Jesse, Silas, Joseph, George, Ste¬ 
phen, Jane, Amelia, Sarah, etc. 

A majority of the Kickapoos were decidedly averse to sending their chil¬ 
dren to school. From 1839 on the Kickapoo children were sent to the man¬ 
ual-labor school of the Shawnee Mission, but few seem to have attended. 
The only year any are reported from this tribe was 1840—a total of three. 
The report to the commissioner of Indian affairs for the year 1860, page 
100, would lead us to believe that the tribe supported a school of its own. 
The report is as follows: 

“Kickapoo Agency, Muscotah, Atchison county, K.T., October 22, I860.— 

. . The mission school was closed in June last, as heretofore reported. 

The Indians are now awaiting the reestablishment of a school under the di¬ 
rection of the missionary board of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.” 

Note 75.—Isaac McCoy, Annual Register of Indian Affairs, vol. 1, p. 30. 

Note 76.—By the treaty of 1832, article 7, the United States agreed to pay $500 per annum for 
ten successive years for the support of a school, purchase of books, etc. See, also. Report of the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1838, p. 496. 

Note 77.—Isaac McCoy, Annual Register of Indian Affairs, vol. 2, p. 31. 




52 


The school was situated about one mile from the eastern border of the 
reservation. Mrs. Frank M. Green, of Whiting, Kan., a teacher at the 
Presbyterian mission near the old Kickapoo agency, at Kennekuk, in the 
’50’s, says she thinks the building for this school was purchased from a Mr. 
Rising, who used it for a hotel, and that it was situated on the overland road 
to California. The Kickapoos have a small reservation in the southern part 
of Brown county at the present time. 

The report for 1861 shows an attendance of twenty—eighteen males and 
two females. The buildings were in a dilapidated state and no money had 
been contributed by the society and nothing by individual Indians; so the 
pressure of money matters and the influence of the war excitement upon 
the school had a bad effect. Religious services were conducted every Sab¬ 
bath and family worship during the week. The superintendent this year 
was F. M. Williams. 

THE PEORIA AND KASKASKIA MISSION. 

The Peorias were a small tribe south of the Shawnees, with the Weas 
and Piankeshaws on the east, the Ottawas on the west, and the Potta- 
watomies on the south. The Peorias and Kaskaskias are regarded as one 
tribe. Our church established a mission among the Peorias in 1833, and 
Rev. James H. Slavens was appointed as missionary. Rev. Nathaniel M. 
Talbot 78 was appointed in 1834, and continued to serve till 1840. The report 
for the year 1834 shows two white members and fifteen Indians. In 1836 
the mission school reported sixteen scholars, who were instructed in English 
and supported by their parents, except one meal a day furnished at the 
mission house. The missionary was Rev. Mr. Talbot, assisted by Mrs. Tal¬ 
bot, and a Mr. Groves who had charge of the school. 79 The mission was 
located on the northern bank of the Osage river. The buildings consisted 
of one schoolroom and one double dwelling with common outhouses. In 1837 
there were but twelve scholars, ten males and two females, who were 
taught reading, writing, and spelling. 80 In 1842 a missionary station was 
kept up under the management of Rev. N. T. Shaler and Mrs. Annie Shaler, 
daughter of Mary Rogers and Mackinaw Bauchemie, but no school. 81 The 
mission was dropped about three years later. Mrs. Shaler had been brought 
up at the Shawnee manual-labor school, where she cared for Mrs. Johnson’s 
children. She was about nineteen when she married Mr. Shaler, and lived 
about eight years. 

THE POTTAWATOMIE MISSION. 

A mission was established in this tribe in 1837, and Rev. Frederick B. 
Leach appointed missionary; in 1838, Rev. E. T. Peery, who served again in 
1839. 

The Pottawatomie reserve was south of the Peorias and Ottawas. The 
mission was located upon the site of the town of Osawatomie. Rev. G. W. 
Love was for a short time a missionary among this tribe, and had as his in- 

Note 78.— Nathaniel M. Talbot was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, March 17, 1805 and 
■died near Arrow Rock, Mo., July, 1872. He joined the Missouri conference in 1825, and spent 
forty-seven years in the ministry. 

Note 79.—Isaac McCoy, Annual Register of Indian Affairs, vol. 2, p. 23. 

Note 80.—Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1837, p. 609. 

Note 81.— Id., 1842, p. 118. 




53 


teipieter Boashman, 8 -’ a native Pottawatomie, who lived many years among 1 
the Shawnees and married a squaw of that tribe. 

After the church was divided. Rev. Thomas H. Hurlburt was appointed 
by the Methodist Episcopal Church South to labor among the Pottawatomies. 
The following report was made to the sub-agent for the year 1846: 

. “ Pottawatomie, September 5, 1846. 

JJear Sir— Although our mission premises are located at this point, 
our labors extend to but a small part of the Pottawatomie tribe. We labor 
among the Chippewas, Peorias, Weas, and Piankeshaws. These are but 
fragments of tribes so reduced in numbers that we do not feel justified, un¬ 
der all the circumstances of the case, in establishing a mission for the ex¬ 
clusive benefit of any one of them. 

The Chippewas are improving some temporally, and will, perhaps, 
raise enough this year for their subsistence. In their social and moral habits 
they are also improving some. There seems a disposition among them to 
merge with the Ottawas, as they are near neighbors and speak dialects of 
the same language. Indeed, the Chippewas have already disused their own 
dialect and assumed the Ottawa, as the latter far outnumbered them. 

“The Peorias, Weas and Piankeshaws speak dialects of the same lan¬ 
guage, and are, perhaps, nearly on a par in regard to temporal circumstances 
and social and moral habits. All have horses, and most of them cattle and 
hogs, and generally raise sufficient corn for their consumption. Some of 
them have embraced the Christian religion, and manifest the sincerity of 
their profession by the consistency of their general deportment. There is 
but little energy manifested by them generally in regard to improving their 
condition, either temporally, socially, morally, or intellectually. 

“A few of the Pottawatomies on this creek are men of intelligence and 
worth, an honor to their tribe and to the churches to which they are attached; 
but, as it regards the greater part of them, I cannot say that I see any im¬ 
provement among them. 

“We have no school attached to this mission, but send all the children 
we can obtain to the Indian manual-labor school, situated in the Shawnee 
country. A good number from the above-mentioned tribes are now receiv¬ 
ing their education at that institution. 

“We have about fifty church members in this charge. 

Yours most respectfully, Thomas Hurlburt, 

Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.” 

“Col. A. J. Vaughan, Indian Subagent.” 

(Commissioner’s Report, 1846, pp. 368, 369.) 

The Pottawatomies, in 1847- , 48, moved to the reservation in the present 


Note 82.—Mrs. Julia Ann Stinson says that her grandmother, the wife of Henry Rogers and 
daughter of Blackfish, was a cousin of Tecumseh. Blackfish and Tecumseh’s father married 
sisters. Mrs. Stinson named the town of Tecumseh for her kinsman, it being situated on her 
allotment as a member of the Shawnee tribe. Her mother, Mary Rogers, after coming west, 
married Mackinaw Bauchemie, a Frenchman, so-called because he was born at Mackinaw. One 
of her brothers was Alex. Bushman, whose allotment covered the site of Auburndale, the Topeka 
suburb. She was married here before he moved to Uniontown.—W. E. Connelley. 

“After my parents were married my father stopped going with the American Fur Company 
and interpreted for Mr. Johnson and joined church. After the Pottawatomies came to Kansas 
the Methodist church sent him to them as an interpreter because he could speak their language. 
My parents lived in the mission building among the Pottawatomies. It was built by the Metho¬ 
dist church and was a double log house, standing east and west, with a hallway between. There 
was a half-story above. My father had thirty mares, and he raised mules and sold them to the 
government at Leavenworth. We had two colored slaves. Moses and Jennie, given by my grand¬ 
mother Rogers to my mother on her marriage. The missionaries came nearly every Sunday from 
the Shawnee Mission or from Westport to preach. Bishop Soule preached there once. There 
was a government agent who lived down there— Colonel Vaughn. He had no family but his son 
Lee. Vaughn was afterwards agent for the northern Indians. His wife was dead. He had a 
house like ours, about a quarter of a mile distant, built by the government. He had negro servants, 
and raised a garden but had no farm. My mother died at the mission in February and father in 
March. 1849. Alexander and I were in school at Fayette Academy, Missouri, where I boarded 
with Rev. Thomas Johnson there in 1847-’48, when he returned to the Kansas mission. Alex, was 
with me in 1849, and when we heard of our mother’s death we started home, but traveling was so 
bad that we did not reach there until after my father had died. It was an awful place to come 
to. Our colored people were keeping house, and only Martha and William were at home. While 
we were off at school the Pottawatomies had sold out and moved away.”— Mrs. Julia A. Stinson. 



54 


Pottawatomie county, Kansas. The Catholic mission school at St. Marys 
was the only mission among them, except that of the Baptists, in Shawnee 
county, which I know of, after their coming North. 

THE WYANDOT MISSION. 

The Wyandots have a history different from the other tribes among whom 
our church established missions in Kansas, in that they were, at the time 
they migrated to Kansas, quite highly civilized and quite thoroughly Chris¬ 
tianized. 

The genesis of Methodist missions is connected with the Wyandots, as 
the first systematized missionary work undertaken by the church was with 
this tribe, the converts being the first fruits of her labors among a pagan 
race. 83 

The Wyandots for a long period stood politically at the head of an Indian 
federation of tribes, and were so recognized by the United States govern¬ 
ment in the treaties made with the Indians of the old Northwest territory. 
In the early part of the last century they occupied a large reservation in 
what is now Wyandot county, Ohio, something more than twelve by twelve 
miles in extent, and through which flowed the Sandusky river. By a treaty 
made at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, March 17, 1842, they ceded their lands to 
the United States, they being then the only Indians remaining in the state. 84 

In the year 1816, John Stewart, 83 a converted mulatto, felt called to la¬ 
bor among them as a missionary and succeeded in making a number of con¬ 
verts, among whom were several chiefs. When Stewart began to labor 
among the Wyandots they were the most degraded heathen. Stewart’s 
parents were free people of color, and he was born in Powhattan county, 
Virginia. He died December 17, 1823. A church and schoolhouse were 
erected and a farm opened. The boys were taught agriculture and the 
girls various domestic arts. The advancement made under our missionaries 
was something marvelous; so that when they migrated to what is now Wy¬ 
andotte county, Kansas, in July, 1843, they were in a high state of civiliza¬ 
tion, and brought with them a fully organized Methodist church of more 
than 200 members, with some local preachers and exhorters of ability and 
prominence. Among them were some splendid specimens of Indian piety 
and thrilling pulpit eloquence. One factor which contributed largely toward 
making them a superior nation was the large infusion of white blood that the 
tribe contained, and that of some rather prominent families. The Walker, 
Hicks, Zane, Armstrong and Mudeater families were all founded by cap¬ 
tives who were adopted into the tribe. 

Their reservation in Kansas consisted of thirty-nine sections of land, a 
little more than one township, thirty-six being purchased December 4, 1843, 
for $46,080, from the Delawares, their neighbors on the west and north, and 
their reputed nephews, and three being the gift of the same tribe. Their 
little reservation at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers was a 
finely wooded tract of very fertile land, beautifully undulating and well 

Note 83.—History of the Wyandot Mission at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, by James Finley 
Cincinnati, 1840; History of the Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by Rev. Enoch 
Mudge, in History of American Missions, 1840, p. 529. 

Note 84.—For a connected history of this tribe, see “The Wyandot Indians,” by Ray E 
Merwin, on page 73 of this volume. The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory and the 
Journals of William Walker, by W. E. Connelley, Lincoln, Neb., 1899, relates to the Wyandots in 
Kansas. 




00 


watered. The site was eligible and healthy, and upon it has grown up the 
Kansas metropolis. 

When the Wyandots arrived by two steamboats at their reservation, July 
28 and 31, 1843, they numbered about 700 souls. Mrs. Lucy Bigelow Arm¬ 
strong says 85 that among the more than 200 church members there were nine 
class-leaders, several exhorters, and three local preachers, one of whom, 
Squire Greyeyes, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and a true mis¬ 
sionary, was ordained deacon. The members were divided into five classes 
for religious work and instruction. The Rev. James Wheeler, who had been 
their missionary for nearly four years, accompanied them. Religious serv¬ 
ices were held on their journey and all their religious appointments kept up 
in Ohio were resumed on their first camping-ground in Kansas. Most of the 
Wyandots camped on the reservation from the latter part of July till the 
latter part of October, 1843, while some rented houses in and about West- 
port, Mo. Their missionary, Rev. James Wheeler, found a home at the 
Shawnee manual-labor school, and preached at the Wyandot camp nearly 
every Sabbath and often during the week. His services were required fre¬ 
quently, as sixty of their number died in the three months they were 
camped there. The Wyandot preachers and exhorters were always at their 
posts, so that there were always two regular preaching services on the 
Sabbath and five well-attended class-meetings in the place appointed for pub¬ 
lic preaching and in some of the camps. A general prayer-meeting was held 
on Wednesday evening, and on Thursday evening there was preaching by 
Squire Greyeyes or another of the Wyandots. The interpreters for Mr. 
Wheeler were Geo. I. Clark and John M. Armstrong. 

Mr. Wheeler attended the Missouri conference, held at Lexington in 
October, 1843, as the missions were a part of this conference. From there 
Mr. Wheeler returned to Ohio, expecting to return to the Wyandots in the 
spring. 

The Wyandots held their meetings regularly on the Sabbath and Wednes¬ 
days and Fridays during the winter of 1843-’44 in their camps, for only a 
few had houses in which to live. At the close of a meeting in January, 1844, 
Squire Greyeyes proposed that the brethren should come together, cut down 
trees, hew logs, make puncheons and clapboards, and build a church. W hile 
they were all busy clearing’ground, splitting rails to enclose their fields for 
the spring crops, they set apart a day now and then to work on the new 
church. So faithfully did they labor that they were able to worship in it 
in April of the same year, 1844, the preacher standing on one tier of the 
puncheon floor and the congregation sitting on the uncovered sleepers. This, 
the first church built by the Wyandots in Kansas, was a good, he wed-log 
house, about thirty by forty feet, located about three miles from the con¬ 
fluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. 86 It was completed before the 
return of the missionary, Mr. Wheeler, in May of the same year, and their 
first quarterly meeting for the year was held in it the first Saturday and 
Sunday in June, at which tim e he baptized all the infants born to the Wyan- 

Note 85.—Mrs. Armstrong’s account may be found in Cutler’s History of Kansas, 1883, pp. 
1226-1229. 


NOTE 86 -Mrs. Lucy B. Armstrong, in her sketch of the Washington Ayenue Methodist 
Church, Kansas City, Kan., says this log church was built on Mr Kerrs place, or about the 
western limit of the city-Washington and Eighteenth streets.-History, Record and Directory 
Washington Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas City, 1893. 




56 


dots during his absence. A parsonage, built about half a mile from the 
confluence of the rivers, was nearly completed at this time. This was a 
two-story frame house, costing about $1500, being a part of the proceeds of 
the mission farm improvements at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, one result of the 
labors of the old missionaries Finley, Gilruth, Bigelow, and their successors. 
This parsonage, Mrs. Armstrong says, was unjustly alienated from the 
Methodist Episcopal church by the Wyandot treaty of 1855, the Manypenny 
treaty. The above description is largely gathered from the reminiscences of 
Mrs. Lucy Bigelow Armstrong. 

During Mr. Wheeler’s absence, the missionaries from the Shawnee, 
Delaware and Kickapoo missions preached to the Wyandots once in two 
weeks, alternately—Rev. J. C. Berryman, superintendent of the manual- 
labor school; Rev. Learner B. Stateler, missionary to the Shawnees; E. T. 
and J. Thompson Peery, of the Delawares; and N. M. Talbot, of the Kicka- 
poos. 

The slavery question, which rent the Methodist Episcopal church asun¬ 
der in 1845, assumed a more acute form among the Wyandots than with 
any of the other tribes among which our church established her missions in 
Kansas. They had just recently moved from the northern part of Ohio, a 
free state, and had not been affected by pro-slavery influences, as the other 
Kansas missions had been, by reason of their belonging to the Missouri con¬ 
ference and served by Southern and pro-slavery sympathizers. 

Rev. James Wheeler returned to Ohio in May, 1846. From the journal 
of Wm. Walker, we are able to obtain the exact date; for, under date of 
May 4, 1846, he makes record as follows: “The deacon packing up his ef¬ 
fects for a move to Ohio”; and under date of May 5, “At eleven o’clock 
the deacon and his family bade adieu to the Wyandots and embarked on 
board the ‘ Radnor ’ with sorrowful hearts. May they have a pleasant and 
prosperous voyage.” May 9, “ E. T. Peery’s family, successors of J. W., 
moved over to-day.” 

The Wyandots were, by the removal of Mr. Wheeler, deprived of their 
spiritual leader. All about them were strong pro-slavery influences. About 
this time the Wyandots held an official meeting, 87 and resolved that they 
would “not receive a missionary from the church south of the line” di¬ 
viding the new organization from the Methodist Episcopal church, according 
to the proposed plan of separation. 

The Rev. E. T. Peery was appointed missionary to the Wyandots from 
1845 to October, 1848. Mr. Peery represented himself to the Wyandots as 
being opposed to slavery, but finally went with the majority of the mission¬ 
aries into the Church South. In October, 1846, when the United States 
government paid the Wyandots for the improvements on their Ohio homes, 
Mr. Peery proposed in an official meeting that they should build a larger 
and better church, and more convenient to the parsonage, than the log 
church. James Big Tree, who was a licensed exhorter in the church, op¬ 
posed it, saying that the Church South would claim it, but Mr. Peery over¬ 
ruled the objection, saying that the records were kept in the name of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and that it was well known that the Wyandots 
were opposed to the new organization (Methodist Episcopal Church South), 
and would adhere to the old organization, or a majority, at least, would. 


Note 87.—Cutler’s History of Kansas, p. 1228. 




0 / 


A good brick building, 
fifty by thirty-five feet, 
with a basement, was 
erected, and occupied No¬ 
vember 1, 1874. 88 The funds 
were raised mostly by pri¬ 
vate subscriptions among 
the people. The organiza¬ 
tion at this time numbered 
240 members—two native 
preachers and four exhort- 
ers. The building, it ap¬ 
pears, was not finished till 
several years later, but all 
the services were now held 
in this church, but, as here¬ 
tofore, class- and prayer- 
meetings in private houses 
in different neighborhoods, 
largely through the labors 
of Greyeyes. 

The new brick meeting¬ 
house proved to be a bone 
of contention between the 
opposing factions. 

The journals of Wm. 
Walker, published by Wm. 
E. Connelley in his interest¬ 
ing volume “Wm. Walker 
and the Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory,” gives us an insight 
into the contest waged so bitterly by the opposing factions, and which re¬ 
sulted in the burning of both the old log church and the new brick church in 
the Wyandot Nation. 89 Due allowance must be made for Governor Walker’s 
bias toward the pro-slavery party and the M. E. Church South. He was a 

Note 88.— Mrs. Armstrong says this brick church was one-half mile from town, on the 
Greenwood tract, supposed to be about Tenth street and Freeman avenue. Kansas City, Kan. 

Note 89. —William E. Connelly writes, under date of Topeka, October 1, 1905, as follows: 

My Dear Brother Lutz —I received your manuscript, and read it with much pleasure and 
profit. It contains much that I did not know in relation to the missions other than that to the 
Wyandots. It is very valuable. I was at a loss to know where to find many things about the 
Shawnees ; you have it all here. I send you herewith copies of a few documents which I have in 
my collection. I have hundreds of them on this church division in the Wyandot nation, but these 
will be sufficient for this paper. 

The date of the burning of the church buildings is April 8, 1856. I find this in the sketch of 
the church left by Aunt Lucy B. Armstrong. I have the manuscript, and it is published in the 
directory of the Washington Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church for 1893. The entry is as fol¬ 
lows: “On the night of April 8, 1856, both church buildings were burned to the ground by in¬ 
cendiaries.” The churches were burned by some young men who did not belong to any church 
organization. The Church South had no organization in the nation at that time. This may seem 
a strange statement to make, but I quote you the following document: 

“Wyandott, November 25, 1854. " ” 

“The undersigned, official members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, for ourselves 
and the membership, would respectfully notify the Rev. A. Monroe, superintendent of the Kan¬ 
sas district, that, in view of the present condition of the charge in this place — a condition that 
may be called anything but prosperous - have deliberately determined upon a union of the two 
societies, under the pastoral charge of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

“The official and private members have for the past two vears observed with pain and deep 
regret a continual decline in the spiritual condition of this society. 

“The cause, in part, of the falling-off may be attributed to the loss by death of many of our 



SILAS ARMSTRONG, 
Wyandot chief and interpreter. 







58 


slaveholder on a small scale. Mr. Connelley says that “Governor Walker 
was extremely bitter, intolerant and unjust in his attitude toward the M. 
E. church, although he did not belong to the Church South, and his wife and 
daughter Martha belonged to the M. E. church. ” Under date of September 
1, 1848, Governor Walker says: 

“Pursuant to notice, the nation assembled at the camp-ground, and at 
twelve o’clock proceeded to organize by the appointment of James Washing¬ 
ton, president, and John Hicks, sen’r, vice-president, and W. Walker, sec¬ 
retary. The object [of the convention] being to determine whether the 
nation will declare for the Southern division of the M. E. church or the 
Northern. After an animated discussion by S. Armstrong, W. Walker, 
M. R. Walker, J. D. Brown, F. A. Hicks, David Young and others in favor 
of the South, and J. M. Armstrong, G. I. Clark, Squire Greyeyes in favor 
of the North, a preamble and resolution [were] adopted by which the nation 
declared for the South.” 

September 5. —“Writing an appeal to the Ohio conference.” 

September 7.-“To-day the church members were to be assembled at the 
new brick church to vote on the question ‘North or South,’ but unfortu¬ 
nately the members refused to attend, and so ended the affair. A rather 
severe rebuke to the agitators. ” 

October 21. —“Wrote an address to the Indian Mission conference for the 
official members. ... In the evening the notoi'ious Bishop Andrews 
[Andrew] came over. Called upon him at the deacon’s. Found him sociable 
and affable—a real, burly Georgian.” 

Sunday, October 22. — “Attended church and heard the bishop preach. 
In the afternoon he dined with us.” 

October 23. —“A preacher, it seems, is appointed by the Ohio conference 
to come in here and sneak about like a night burglar or incendiary to do 
harm and not good. What is it that religious fanaticism will not do? The 
seceders have stolen the church records.” 

October 24.— “At night a number of our friends came and stayed till a 
late hour discussing various matters. Determined to call in the authority of 
the Nation and the Indian Agent, to protect their rights from the seceders. ” 

Sunday, October 29. —“Went to Church, and to our astonishment found 
the presiding Elder of the Quasi Northern District, a Mr. Still; the Deacon, 
as a matter of Grace, asked him to preach, which he attempted to do; 

‘ Sorter ’ preached. The Church was then divided, South from the North. 
Meeting appointed by the Northerners for evening.” 


old, experienced and zealous members and fathers in the church, and no accessions to supply 
these losses. 

“For the last two years we have thought that the church of our choice looked upon this 
charge as a burden, especially by this conference, judging from the character of the ministerial 
supply afforded us. We have been denied the benefit and privilege of the general itinerant sys¬ 
tem of the church — a system which past experience demonstrated to be eminently useful and 
successful with our people. 

“ No one could, previous to the commencement of this conference year, doubt our devotion 
and loyalty to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. A crisis has arrived, and it must be met, 
and how to meet it was asked ; but no satisfactory response was made — no effectual remedy was 
proposed. 

“ To our statements and suggestions answers were returned better calculated to silence than 
to satisfy us. 

“To us, as a society, the alternative was presented, either spiritual death or a change, and 
the stern necessity of the case determined us to choose the latter. 

“ We dissolve our connection with the Church South from a deep sense of duty. We part in 
peace, and shall carry with us feelings of high regard, esteem and Christian love for our brethren. 

“ This union will render it obviously necessary to have the use of the brick church as well as 
the parsonage. 

“The necessary arrangement will be made for a reimbursement to your church of its out¬ 
lay in money in the erection of the church building.” 

There are no names to the above document, and it is evidently but the first draft. It is in 
the handwriting of Governor Walker, and he evidently drew up the articles. I found this docu¬ 
ment among his papers. There is, on the same sheet of paper, the following, which is in the 
handwriting of Governor Walker, and. being on the same sheet, would make it certain that both 
papers are but the first drafts of the papers signed and acted upon : 

“The undersigned, official members of the Methodist Episcopal church in Wyandott, would 
respectfully state that the brethren whose names are signed to the above article made overtures 
to us for the purpose mentioned therein. 

“ We met and had a full, free and unreserved conference, and the result was the adoption of 



59 


October 30.-“At candle-light the Wyandott Chiefs met at our domicile 
and prepared a communication to the Agent, asking the interposition of the 
Nalkm 11 ^ 611 ^ ou ^ our territory those reverend disturbers of the 

. November 28. ‘Rev. J. Thompson Peerey, our newly appointed mis¬ 

sionary, moved into the parsonage.” 

r-u ^°^ e P 1 ber 30. — ‘ ‘To-night will be held the first official meeting of the 
Church South under the administration of Rev. J. T. Peerey.” 

December 1. — “Called upon Mr. Peerey and presiding elder Stateler. 

* Gurley, the preacher sent by the Ohio annual conference 

to preach abolitionism to the Wyandotts, has just arrived. So I suppose we 
are to have religious dissensions in full fruition.” 

December 2. —“Mr. Gurley called upon us and defended his position. If 
he follows the instructions received from Bishop Morris we shall not have 
much trouble, for he will ‘gather up his awls ’ and pull out.” 

Sunday, December 3.— “Must go to the Synagogue and hear Mr. Gurley 


a resolution for a union of the two societies, as stated in their communication. We receive them 
as brethren and sisters beloved. 

WCli this complaint of a want of proper attention towards them from your conference, we 
have nothing to say ; on the contrary, be assured of our best wishes and fraternal regard for our 
brethren of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, while we invoke the blessing of the Great 
Head of the Church upon this union.” 

When the Methodist Episcopal Church South again effected an organization in the nation I 
have not had time to ascertain. But it could not have been very soon after this union; the war 
on the border began about that time, and things were very unsettled. I think this Kansas war 
had more to do with the burning of the church buildings than any religious controversy which 
could have existed at that time. 

As confirmatory of the truthfulness of the above documents, I will quote from the paper of 
Aunt Lucy, referred to before: 


With Doctor Goode as superintendent came the Rev. J. H. Dennis as missionary. Soon 
after their arrival twelve of the members who had joined the Church South returned to the old 
church. Among the number were Matthew Mudeater, a Wyandot chief, and Mrs. Hannah, wife 
of William Walker, who afterwards became provisional governor of Kansas.” 

I am satisfied that Mrs. Hannah Walker never united with the Church South nor did her 
daughter Martha. Jesse Garrett, Esq., who married Martha, told me that his wife and Mrs. 
Walker always remained in the old church, but the feeling was so bitter that they could not at¬ 
tend its services, and that they did attend the services of the Church South. 

Another document, showing that the succession has always remained in the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal church, is as follows (I do not know the handwriting, but I secured the paper from a 
daughter of Aunt Lucy): 


‘‘State of Missouri, County of Jackson, to wit: 

‘‘Edward Peery, of the county aforesaid, being duly sworn, says that he was Missionary to 
the Wyandot Indians in Kansas, then Indian Territory, from June, 1846, to October, 1848; that 
though the said affiant was in connection with the Methodist Church South at that time, yet the 
records of all the official meetings of the Church among the Wyandots during that time were in 
the name of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the licenses of the Local Preachers and Ex¬ 
porters were renewed quarterly as emenating from the Quarterly Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church; that at a meeting of the official members of the Church among the Wyandotts 
in May, 1846, it was resolved, that the Church among the Wyandotts would not submit to the 
jurisdiction of the Church South. 

“Said affiant further states, that at another official meeting, held in the fall of 1846, it was 
decided to build a good brick Church, and subscription papers for building a Methodist Church 
among the Wyandotts were circulated for that purpose, and the Wyandotts themselves con¬ 
tributed the most of the Money raised, the Wyandott Council donating Five Hundred dollars out 
of the National Annuity ; that the Church was built in pursuance of the aforesaid decision of the 
official members, and ready for occupancy in November, 1847; that regular religious services 
were held in it, and the records of the Church were still kept in the name of the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal Church, as heretofore stated, until the fall of 1848, when the membership was divided, a 
large majority of the members adhering to the Methodist Episcopal Church ; that after the or¬ 
ganization of Kansas Territory a State of Lawlessness and disorder prevailed along the border, 
and much property was destroyed, and the aforesaid Brick Church was burned in April, 1856; 
said Church was worth at the time of its destruction three thousand dollars. 

“ Said affiant further states, that in 1844 a Parsonage was built for the use of the Missionary 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the Wyandotts, costing fifteen hundred dollars, said money 
being a part the proceeds of the Mission Farm at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, which Farm was made 
by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; that the recognition of the afore¬ 
said parsonage as belonging to the Church South by the Treaty of January 31st, 1855, was unjust, 
since the money used in building said Parsonage really belonged to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and further says not.” 


"Mr,. Lucy Armstrong. Wyandott. Kansas: Kansas C,ty ’ Mo " Feb ' I5th - 1864 ' 

“ Dear Sister in Christ—I went out to see Bro. Peery two or three times, but did not meet 
with him; he being absent at the time. I sent the paper to him, however, by his son, which he 
examined, and left word with his wife that he could endorse it all except that part which says, 
‘a large majority adhering to the M. E. Church,’ upon this point he is not so clear. I am sorry 
that I did not go to see Bro. Peery myself. I return the paper and also the dollar handed to me 
By Bro. Ham. Yours in Christ, Alfred H. Powell.” 




60 


‘hold forth.’ He held forth. Went to Church at early candle-lighting and 
heard the preacher in charge, J. T. Peerey.” 

January 30, 1849. —“Went to attend the session of the Council, in order 
to report the result of the meeting, on the 19th, of the non-professing mem¬ 
bers, who decided that both missionaries should be expelled from the na¬ 
tion. 90 Made my report, and closed with a speech, defining our position , 
and closed with a solemn warning to the Northern faction.” 

February 10. — “ To-day is the time appointed for the Northern quarterly 
meeting. But will it be held ? ” 

July 15.— “Dr. Hewitt moved to-day from Wyandott Territory to give 
place to his successor. ‘Sic transit gloria nandi.’” —Connelley’s Provi¬ 
sional Government, p. 260. 

It is in order now to narrate a little more particularly the events which 
led to Doctor Hewitt’s moving from the territory, as recorded in the entry 
of Governor Walker’s journal, just quoted. This was the culmination of the 
troubles between the Methodist Episcopal church and the Methodist Episco¬ 
pal Church South. 

Dr. Richard Hewitt was sub-Indian agent for the Wyandots, and a 
somewhat intense slavery propagandist. The report of Doctor Hewitt to the 
commissioner of Indian affairs for 1848 will show his attitude toward the 
opposition. We must take into consideration the fact that great pressure 
was brought to bear upon the agent by the Southern faction. In his report 
for 1848 he says: 

“During the past summer some dissension has existed among the mem¬ 
bers of the church arising out of the division of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, which took place four years ago, by which a line of separation sepa¬ 
rating the slaveholding from the non-slaveholding territories was agreed 
upon by the general conference of that church. By this prudential arrange¬ 
ment all the Indian missions west of the states of Missouri and Arkansas, 
etc., under the patronage of that church were thrown into the Southern di¬ 
vision and under the pastoral care of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 
By the history of this church arrangement or ecclesiastical legislation, it 
appears that at the last quadrennial session, held in May last, the Northern 
division in its separate capacity abrogated and annulled the plan of separa¬ 
tion mutually agreed upon four years previous, and intend to invade the 
territory of the former. 

‘ ‘ From information on which I can rely, it appears that certain clergy¬ 
men in Ohio, with a view of the furtherance of their plans, have been cor¬ 
responding with such Wyandotts as they are acquainted with and could be 
influenced. These communications .are doubtless well seasoned with abo¬ 
litionism, with a view of stirring up disaffection and discord among the 
people, and, through them, among the Delawares, Shawnees, and Kickapoos, 
among which the Southern division has missionary establishments; this move¬ 
ment has not been without its effects, especially among the Wyandots, who 
are, to a limited extent, slaveholders themselves, in producing strife and 
contention, not among the membership only, but through the nation gener¬ 
ally. 

“A memorial was forwarded, not long since, by the disaffected members, 
addressed to the Ohio annual conference, praying the appointment of a 
preacher from that body to reside among them as missionary. 

‘ ‘ A protest addressed to the same body was shortly afterwards adopted 
and forwarded by the nation, protesting against any interference in their 
affairs, and warning that body of the disastrous consequences that might 
follow them, from such agitations which would grow out of the stationing 
of a preacher from the North, when they were already supplied by the Indian 
Mission conference. 


Note 90.- Wm. E. Connelley says : “This action resulted in the expulsion of the missionary 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. The missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church South 
was not molested.” 




61 


“The whole movement has no doubt originated in abolitionism, which 
seldom hesitates at the means to accomplish its purpose. 

“Should a preacher be sent here from the North (Ohio) contrary to the 
wishes of the nation, and we have no other authority than that given him 
by that conference, and he present himself, I shall be compelled (in this 
novel case), in the absence of special instructions, to enforce the ‘inter¬ 
course laws,’ however unpleasant it may be to my feelings. 

“Notwithstanding those engaged in the getting up of this unpleasant 
state of things act with great energy (an energy and perseverance worthy 
of a better cause) and no little bitterness of feeling, I am bound in candor 
to believe that their actions are prompted by an honest though a misguided 
zeal. Their course of conduct proves conclusively to my mind that it is far 
easier to reason men into error than out of it. — Richard Hewitt, Sub-agent. 19 

(Report United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1848, pp. 486, 487.) 

We have been unable to gather from Governor Walker’s journal, or from 
any oth4r source, anything concerning the particulars of the arrest of Rev. 
Mr. Gurley and his expulsion from the nation. The matter was taken up at 
the annual meeting of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal church, in 
their session at Newark, N. J., in April, 1849. After some consultation 
concerning our missions in the Missouri territory, Bishop Morris was ap¬ 
pointed to draft a memorial to the Department of the Interior, at Washing¬ 
ton, in relation to the expulsion of Rev. James Gurley from f he Wyandot 
nation. Following are the material portions of the document: 

“The Wyandot Indians, formerly of Sandusky, Ohio, now vf the terri¬ 
tory west of Missouri, have for thirty years past been regu.arly supplied 
with missionaries from our church, except a short interval since the or¬ 
ganization of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. When the Wyandots 
removed from Ohio to their present home, our missionary, Rev. J. Wheeler, 
who had been their pastor for years, accompanied them and remained with 
them until 1846, when, the Indian Mission conference having adhered to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South, he returned to his own conference in 
Ohio. The Wyandots were much dissatisfied with their new position in 
church affairs, and gave notice to the Church South that they would look to 
us for supplies of ministers, and accordingly, in 1848, sent a petition to the 
Ohio conference for a missionary. This was signed by the official and lead¬ 
ing men of the society, as is usual in such cases. Rev. James Gurley, a 
minister long and favorably known among us, was selected, appointed, and 
sent, with a letter of instruction from T. A. Morris. That letter was ob¬ 
tained from Mr. Gurley by Major Cummins, United States agent near Fort 
Leavenworth, and, so far as we know, is still in his hands; otherwise we 
would herewith forward to you the original. After Mr. Gurley’s arrival 
at Wyandot, the official members of our church there, in a communication to 
T. A. Morris, expressed their gratitude and pleasure on his reception among 
them, and having heard of an idle and false rumor of an intention on our 
part to recall him. remonstrated strongly against in. Subsequently, how¬ 
ever, Doctor Hewitt, subagent of the Wyandot nation, had Mr. Gurley ar¬ 
rested, and ordered him to leave the nation. One fact to which we beg 
leave to call your special attention is, that no exception to the moral, Chris¬ 
tian or ministerial character or conduct of Mr. Gurley was alleged, even by 
Doctor Hewitt, as a reason for expelling him from the nation, nir had Mr. 
Gurley any personal difficulty with any individual there; yet h ■ vas driven 
off, to the great grief of the Christian society over which he was pastor, 
consisting of a large majority of the church-members in the Wya::lot nation. 

* ‘ Now, what we wish is, to be informed whether the act of Doctor Hewitt 
was authorized and sanctioned by the government, or merely an assumption 
of power on his part. If the latter, we respectfully ask that the abuse of 
the power may be corrected in such way as the department may deem proper, 
the wrong redressed, and our constitutional rights secured. We know of no 
reason why our missionaries should be excluded from the Indian Territory, 
while the missionaries of other churches are tolerated and protected.’’ 


62 


This communication, signed 
by all the bishops, was duly 
forwarded to Hon. Thos. Ew¬ 
ing, secretary of the interior. 
It caused the speedy removal 
from office of Doctor Hewitt, 
sub-agent at Wyandot, and the 
restoration of our privileges as 
a church in the Indian Terri¬ 
tory. 

It appears, from the journals 
of Governor Walker, that both 
the church buildings were 
standing as late as 1851, for he 
records: 

“November 2.—Went in 
company with Martha [ his 
daughter] to the Northern 
Quarterly Meeting. Heard a 
poor sermon from the Presiding 
Elder [Geo. W. Roberts]. Rev. 
L. B. Stateler preached at the 
Brick Church. 

“Sunday, 16. —Must go [to] 
the Synagogue to hear Mr. 
Scarritt preach, this being his 
day to preach at the Brick 
Church. A rather thin congre¬ 
gation. 

‘ ‘April 10,1852. — In the even¬ 
ing Rev. Mr. Barker, Mr. Scar- 
ritt’s successor, called upon us 
and spent some time with us. ” 

The preachers for the Methodist Episcopal Church South for the confer¬ 
ence year 1851-’52 were Revs. Nathan Scarritt and D. D. Doffelmeyer. 
They served the Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot missions. 

One feature of the old-time Methodism was the camp-meeting. The 
Wy an dots held them in the forests of Ohio in the early days, and introduced 
them into Kansas. They were held annually by the Shawnees, Delawares, 
and Wyandots. Governor Walker’s journals give us a brief description of 
one of these great gatherings in the forests: 

“ Friday, September 3, 1852. — Our folks all in a bustle, house upside down, 
moving to the Camp ground cooking utensils, provisions, Bed clothes, etc. In 
the evening I went to the consecrated ground and found a very comfort¬ 
able shantee erected. 

“Sunday, September 5.—At the Camp ground. The great Conch shell 91 
was Sounded as a Signal to rise from our beds and prepare for morning devo¬ 
tions and breakfast. At 11 o’clock a. m. a large Congregation assembled 
under the Arbor prepared for the occasion, and was addressed by a Rev. Mr. 
Love, of St. Louis, in a sermon of great eloquence and ability. . . . Devo¬ 

tional exercises were continued through the day and till a late hour in the 
night. Several new members were received into the Church. 

‘ ‘ September 19.—Engaged in writing a long epistle to the Northern Bishop 

Note 91.—The conch-shell referred to above is in the possession of Wm. E. Connelley It 
was used by the Wyandots for centuries. 













REV. L. B. STATELER. 

who is to preside at the Northern Conference in St. Louis, upon their Mis¬ 
sionary operations among the Indians. 

“ September 24. — Finished my letter to the Bishop, making sixteen pages, 
in which I have attempted to show up these canting Methodist Abolitionists 
in their true colors. The preachers of the Northern Methodist Church prowl¬ 
ing around on this frontier are the most contemptible, hypocritical, canting 
set of fellows that ever disgraced Christianity. 

“November 19.—I learned on yesterday that Doctor Clipper [M. T. 
Klepper], the Northern Preacher, and his lady arrived on Tuesday last. 
He succeeds Rev. James Witten 92 as preacher in charge of the pitiful fac¬ 
tion here. 


Note 92.— Rev. James Witten was born in Tazewell county. Virginia, about 1790. His 
mother was a Laird and grandniece of Lord Baltimore. He was also a kinsman of Wm. Cecil 
Price, of Springfield, Mo., his mother being a Cecil. At about the age of twenty-two he entered 
the United States service, under General Jackson, in the Creek Indian and New Orleans cam- 







MRS. MELINDA STATELER. 


“January 11, 1853. — Drew up a petition to the Council praying that body 
to restrain Dr. Clipper from opening a M s Jonary Establishment in our 
Territory as unnecessary and useless. 

“January 19.— Wrote to Maj. Moseley at Sarcoxie, upon matters apper¬ 
taining to the Agency, especially about the movements of the Northern 
Missionary.” 

In October, 1853, Bishop Morris, who presided over a conference at New- 


paigns. He was admitted on trial in the Tennessee conference held at Franklin, October 30, 1817, 
in the class with Rev. Jesse Greene, who afterward became a prominent figure in the work 
among the Indian tribes in Kansas. In 1822 he located, and the following year was married to 
Miss Eliza Ewing, of Washington county, Virginia. In 1847 he moved to northwest Missouri, 
where he entered the active work in the Methodist Episcopal church. He had three brothers. 
John W., Wm. A., and Thomas, all of whom were Methodist ministers, the two former serving 
as local preachers. Thomas was one of the founders of Portland, Ore. His (Jas. Witten’s) 
death occurred about 1870. His wife’s father was a man of wealth and a slaveholder. Mr. Wit¬ 
ten was opposed to slavery, and his remaining in the Methodist Episcopal church at the time of 
the division was the cause of alienating many of his friends and relatives who were slaveholders. 





65 


ark, Mo., made a hasty visit to the Wyandot mission in company with Rev. 

J. M. Chivington, 93 missionary to the Wyandots, on his way to attend the 
Arkansas conference, at Fayetteville. The journey from northwest Missouri 
was made in a stage wagon. They crossed the Missouri river at Weston 
ferry and entered Nebraska territory, passing Fort Leavenworth, and trav¬ 
eling through the lands of the Stock bridge Indians. 94 On Friday, October 
14, they reached Wyandotte and visited Mrs. Lucy Bigelow Armstrong, whom 
they found comfortably living in a good house, supporting herself in part by 
teaching. On Saturday they went to the mission premises, occupied by 
Doctor Klepper, and remained with him over the Sabbath. The bishop made 
his first effort at public speaking through an interpreter on Sunday, and was 
not much pleased with the method. 

The last appointment made by the Methodist Episcopal church to the 
Wyandots as a mission was in 1855. “Delaware and Wyandot mission, J. 
H. Dennis, Charles Ketchum, 95 and one supply." This year the Wyandots 
made a treaty by which they dissolved their tribal relations, accepted the 
allotment of the lands in severalty, and became citizens of the United 
States. The old mission developed into the Washington Avenue Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church South 
also grew into a fine city church of that denomination. 

There were a number of men belonging to the Wyandots who took an 
active part in our missionary operations and who deserve a brief notice. 
Rev. Wm. H. Goode, who resided among them, has recorded brief notices in 
his “Outposts of Zion," of some of the more prominent men of this tribe. 
Of Squire Grey eyes he writes as follows : 

“Squire Greyeyes, a native preacher, was the model man of his tribe. 
He was one of the early fruits of Finley’s labors, and lived to a good old age; 
small in stature; quick and active in his movements; spirited, but mild and 
gentle in his temper; scrupulously neat in his person and zealous in his piety 
and exemplary in his walk, he was, upon the whole, one of the noblest speci¬ 
mens of Indian character. No white missionary ever could move and melt 
and sway the Wyandots as he did. The missionaries understood this, and 
when direct effect was intended they placed him in the front. Still he was 
unassuming, and seemed highly to appreciate and enjoy the labors of the 
missionaries through the interpreters, as his flowing tears would often tes¬ 
tify. His wife, considerably his junior, was neat and pious and his home 
comfortable. I loved to visit him, though he could converse but little. He 
rarely attempted English." 

William E. Connelley says he was the son of Doctor Greyeyes, who 
was the son of a British army officer who married a Wyandot girl at De¬ 
troit during the war of the revolution. Squire Greyeyes was a Methodist 
preacher, converted at the old Wyandot mission in Ohio, under the labors of 
Rev. Jas. B. Finley, who was the leading man connected with that mission. 
In 1826 Greyeyes was a class-leader there. His son, John W. Greyeyes, 
was educated at the mission in Kansas and at Kenyon College, Gambier, 
Ohio, where he graduated. He became a successful lawyer. 

George I. Clarke was a man of influence among the Wyandots, and was 

Note 93 - Goode's Ouposts of Zion, pp. 249, 252; United States Special Commissioner on 
Indian Tribes, Report of B. F. Wade, 1867; Official Records, War of the Rebellion, vol. 41, pt. 1, 
p. 948. 

Note 94 — For Kansas reservation of Stockbridges, a family of New York Indians, in south¬ 
ern part of the territory, see Kansas Historical Collections, vol. 8. p. 83. 

Note 95.-Sketch of Charles Ketchum, in Goode’s Outposts of Zion, p. 296. 

-5 




66 


elected head chief. He was born June 10, 1802, and died June 25, 1858. He 
belonged to the faction that opposed slavery and adhered to the old church. 
Mr. Goode has this to say of him : 

“George I. Clark, a local preacher, was my near neighbor. He was a 
half-breed of good sense, gentle manners, consistent piety. He spoke Eng¬ 
lish tolerably well, and was understood to render English correctly into 
Wyandot. He was our stated interpreter. I have enjoyed many pleasant 
opportunities of preaching through him. He had a good farm and com¬ 
fortable residence near where Quindaro now stands. * ’ 

Another prominent man of the tribe was John Hicks, who was the last of 
the hereditary chiefs of the Wyandot nation. He died February 14, 1853, 
being upwards of eighty years of age. He was one of the first converts 
at the old mission in Ohio in 1819, and was a member in the church thirty- 
five years. He was licensed as an exhorter in the church. He affiliated 
with the Church South. His son, Francis A. Hicks, was also a man of note 
in the tribe. He was born in 1800 and died in 1855. He was head chief 
of the Wyandots. He first sided with the Church South and took part in the 
expulsion of the missionary of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Gurley. 
He afterward returned to the Methodist Episcopal church. His daughter 
was educated at the Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College. 

John M. Armstrong, a half-breed, was the leader of the Wyandots who 
refused to go with the Southern faction in the division. His father, Robert 
Armstrong, was captured by Wyandots and Senecas on the Alleghany river 
in 1783. He married Sarah Zane. J. M. Armstrong married Lucy Bige¬ 
low, 96 daughter of Rev. Russell Bigelow, an eloquent pioneer preacher of 
Ohio, and who, as the presiding elder of the Portland district in Ohio, was 
also superintendent of the Wyandot mission in 1829-’30. Lucy Bigelow 
Armstrong died January 1, 1892, aged seventy-three years. Mr. Armstrong 
was an attorney at law, and was associated for some time with Hon. John 
Sherman, of Mansfield, Ohio, where he died April 11, 1852, while on his way 
to Washington. For fuller sketches of the Armstrong and Hicks families, 
see Connelly’s “Provisional Government.” 

LIST OF APPOINTMENTS 

To the Indian missions of the Methodist church, from 1830 to 1860 (from the 
general minutes of the church): 

Number in society. 

White. Colored. Indians 

1830. Kansas or Kaw mission, William Johnson. 

Shawnee Mission, Thomas Johnson. 

1831. Presiding elder and superintendent Kansas mis¬ 

sions, Jos. Edmundson: 

Kansas missions, 97 Thomas Johnson, William 

Johnson. 9 _ 31 

1832. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thomas 

Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission and school, Thomas Johnson, 

Edward T. Peery. 


Note 96.— Lucy B. Armstrong, the widow of John McIntyre Armstrong, was the mother of 
five children. Russell Bigelow Armstrong, her son, was born at Westport, November 20 1844 
and died June 7. 1901. He served in the legislature of 1879. William R. Armstrong a civil en¬ 
gineer connected with the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient railroad, is a grandson. 

Note 97.— Rev. JoabSpencer, of Slater, Mo., says: “This is according to the minutes but it 
should read, Shawnee and Kanzas missions, Thomas Johnson and Wm. Johnson.’ ” 






67 


Number in society. 
White. Colored. Indians. 

1832. Delaware mission and school, William Johnson, 

Thomas B. Markham. . 

Iowa and Sac mission and school, to be supplied, . . 

Peoria mission and school, James H. Slavens. . 

1833. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thomas 

Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission and school, William Johnson, 5 .... 40 

Delaware mission and school, E. T. Peery. 5 _ 27 

Peoria mission and school, N. M. Talbot. . 

Kickapoo mission and school, J. C. Berryman. . 

1834. North Indian Mission district, superintendent, 

Thomas Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission and school, William Johnson, . 85 

Delaware mission and school, E. T. Peery. 7 50 

Peoria mission and school, N. M. Talbot. 2 15 

Kickapoo mission and school, J. C. Berryman, 

J. Monroe. 2 230 

1835. North Indian Mission district, superintendent, 

Thomas Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission, William Ketron. . 9 102 

Delaware mission and school, E. T. Peery. 5 70 

Peoria mission and school, N. M. Talbot. 2 26 

Kickapoo mission and school, J. C. Berryman, 2 230 

Kansas mission and school, William Johnson. . 

1836. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thomas 

Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission, to be supplied. 6 80 

Delaware mission, E. T. Peery. 4 ... 86 

Peoria mission, N. M. Talbot . 4 42 

Kickapoo mission, J. C. Berryman. 3 218 

Kansas mission, William Johnson. 1 1 

1837. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thomas 

Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission, Thomas Johnson, Lorenzo 

Waugh. 10 .... 92 

Delaware mission, Learner B. Stateler. 90 

Peoria mission, N. M. Talbot, Reuben Aldridge, 4 55 

Kickapoo mission, J. C. Berryman, David Kin- 

near . 5 264 

Kansas mission, William Johnson. 3 1 

Pottawatomie mission, Frederick B. Leach. . 

1838. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thomas 

Johnson: 

Shawnee Mission, Thomas Johnson, Lorenzo 

Waugh. 8 .... 97 

Delaware mission, L. B. Stateler, Abraham 

Millice. 2 .... 74 

Peoria, N. M. Talbot, John Y. Porter. 3 40 

Kickapoo, J. C. Berryman, David Kinnear. 6 .... 161 






























68 


Number in society. 

W' kite. Colored. Indians. 

1838. Kansas, William Johnson, John W. Dole. 4 - 2 

Pottawatomie, E. T. Peery. . 

1839. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thomas 

Johnson: 

Shawnee, Thomas Johnson. . 

Indian manual-labor school, Wesley Browning, 

D. Kinnear. . 

Delaware, L. B. Stateler. . 

Kickapoo, J. C. Berryman. . 

Peoria, N. M. Talbot. . 

Kansas, Wm. Johnson. . 

Pottawatomie, E. T. Peery. . 

1840. Indian Mission district, superintendent, Thos. 

Johnson: 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. . 

Indian manual-labor school, D. Kinnear. . 

Delaware, Edward T. Peery. .... 

Kickapoo, Jerome C. Berryman. . 

Peoria and Pottawatomie, Nathaniel M. Talbot, . . 


Kansas, Wm. Johnson. . 

1841. Wm. Johnson, superintendent: 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. 186 

Indian manual-labor school, J. C. Berryman. . 

Delaware, Edward T. Peery. 1 _ 94 

Kickapoo, N. M. Talbot. 1 .... 41 

Peoria and Pottawatomie, to be supplied. 37 .... 5 


Kansas, Wm. Johnson. 

1842. Edward T. Peery, presiding elder: 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. 

Manual-labor school, J. C. Berryman 

Delaware, E. T. Peery. 

Kickapoo, N. M. Talbot. 

Kansas, Geo. W. Love. 

Pottawatomie, supply. 

1843. Edward T. Peery, presiding elder : 


Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. 163 

Manual-labor school, J. C. Berryman. 29 10 38 

Delaware, E. T. Peery, John Peery. 4 2 98 

Kickapoo, N. T. Shaler. 3 35 

Pottawatomie, Thomas B. Ruble. 1 45 

Wyandot, supply. 4 2 242 

1844. Indian Mission conference, Kansas River dis¬ 
trict, N. M. Talbot, presiding elder: 

Indian manual-labor school, E. T. Peery. 25 40 

Delaware and Kickapoo, N. M. Talbot, J. T. 

Peery: 

Delaware. 3 10 g 

Kickapoo. 3 og 
























































69 


Number in society. 

, __ , White. Colored. Indians. 

1844. Shawnee and Wyandot, J. Wheeler and one to 

be supplied: 

Shawnee. 153 

Wyandot. 4 242 

Pottawatomie, Chippewa, Peoria, and Wea, 

Thomas Hurlburt, Thomas B. Ruble: 

Pottawatomie. 31 

Peoria. 35 

1845. Indian Mission conference, Kansas River dis¬ 

trict, L. B. Stateler, presiding elder: 

Indian mission, manual-labor school, William 

Patton, superintendent. 25 19 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler, Paschal Fish. 6 _ 332 

Delaware, N. T. Shaler, W. D. Collins. 

Kickapoo, Charles Ketchum. 4 90 

Wyandot, E. T. Peery. . 

Pottawatomie, Thomas Hurlburt. 3 66 

Chippewa, Wea, and Sac, Maccinnaw Boach- 

man [Mackinaw Beauchemie]. . 

Kansas, J. C. Berryman. 1 1 

1846. Methodist Episcopal Church South, Kansas 

River district, L. B. Stateler, presiding elder: 

Indian manual-labor school, William Patton, 

superintendent. 18 12 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler, Paschal Fish. 130 

Delaware, N. T. Shaler, W. D. Collins. 1 50 

Kickapoo, Charles Ketchum. 34 

Wyandot, E. T. Peery. 3 158 

Pottawatomie, Thos. Hurlburt. . 

Chippewa, Wea, and Sac, Maccinaw Boachman, 1 .... 51 

Kansas, J. C. Berryman. 1 - - 

1847. Kansas River district, L. B. Stateler, presiding 

elder: 

Indian manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson, 

Tyson Dines. 19 .... 20 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. 140 

Delaware, N. T. Shaler. 50 

Kickapoo, Paschal Fish . 30 

Wyandot, E. T. Peery. 169 

Chippewa, Wea, and Sac, Maccinaw Boachman, . 37 

Kansas, to be supplied. . 

1848. Kansas River district, L. B. Stateler, presiding 

elder: 

Indian manual-labor school, Thos. Johnson, T. 

Hurlburt. 17 H 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. 127 

Delaware, B. H. Russell. 1 56 

Kickapoo, N. T. Shaler. 34 

Wyandot, J. T. Peery. 165 















































70 


Number in society. 
White. Colored. Indians. 

1848. Kansas, T. Johnson. . 

Western Academy, N. Scarritt. . 

1849. Kansas River district, L. B. Stateler, presiding 

elder: 

Indian manual-labor school, Thos. Johnson, su¬ 
perintendent, J. T. Peery. 20 5 

Shawnee, L. B. Stateler. 102 

Delaware, J. A. Cummings. 1 56 

Wyandot, B. H. Russell. 5 103 

Kickapoo, N. T. Shaler. 1 .... 32 

Kansas, T. Johnson. . 

Pottawatomie, T. Hurlburt. 4 

Western Academy, N. Scarritt. . 

1850. Methodist Episcopal Church South: 

Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. 15 3 

Shawnee, B. H. Russell. 80 

Wyandot and Delaware, L. B. Stateler, N. T. 

Shaler. 7 .... 89 

Kickapoo mission, Thomas Hurlburt. 50 

Kansas school, Thomas Johnson. 4 .... 2 

Western Academy, Nathan Scarritt. . 

1851. Fort Leavenworth manual-labor school, Thomas 

Johnson. 16 2 - 

Shawnee, Delaware, and Wyandot, N. Scarritt, 

D. D. Doffelmeyer. 3 .... _ 

Kickapoo, J. Grover. 2 _ _ 

Kansas Indians, Thomas Johnson. . 

1852. Indian manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson .. 5 _ _ 

Shawnee, Charles Boles. . 

Wyandot, D. D. Doffelmeyer 98 . . 

Delaware, J. Barker. . 

Kickapoo, J. Grover. . 

1853. Indian manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. . 

Shawnee, Charles Boles. 3 _ _ 

Delaware, J. Barker. 5 _ _ 

Wyandot, D. D. Doffelmeyer. .... 

Kickapoo, N. T. Shaler. . . 

1854. Fort Leavenworth manual-labor school, Thomas 

Johnson. 9 3 

Shawnee, Charles Boles. 2 3 100 

Delaware. 8 

Wyandot, D. D. Doffelmeyer. 

Kickapoo, N. T. Shaler. 

1855. Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. 9 

Shawnee, Charles Boles. 3 1 102 

Wyandot, William Barnett. 8 .... 81 

Delaware, N. M. Talbot. 6 65 

Kickapoo, N. T. Shaler. 


Note 98. — Gov. Wm. Walker, in his journal, p. 396, spells the name Duffle[meyer]. 
























































71 


1856. 


1857. 


1858. 


1859. 


1860. 


1861. 


Number in society. 


Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson 
Shawnee, Charles Boles. 

White. 

9 

Colored. 

1 

Indiana. 

82 

Wyandot, William Barnett. 



31 

Delaware, N. T. Shaler. 



63 

Kickapoo, F. M. Williams. 



Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson . 

3 



Shawnee, Charles Boles. 


3 

92 

Wyandot, William Barnett. 

18 


28 

Delaware, N. T. Shaler. 



58 

Kickapoo, A. Williams. 



Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. 




Shawnee, Joab Spencer. 




Delaware, N. T. Shaler. 




Wyandot, William Barnett. 




Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. 

6 



Shawnee, Joab Spencer. 


3 

68 

Delaware, N. T. Shaler. 



64 

Wyandot, William Barnett. 



18 

Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. 

3 



Shawnee, Thomas Johnson. 


1 


Delaware, N. T. Shaler. 

10 


66 

Wyandot, William Barnett. 

43 


21 

Manual-labor school, Thomas Johnson. 




Shawnee, R. C. Week. 

3 

1 

71 

Delaware. 

10 


66 

Wyandot, William Barnett. 

43 


21 


When the Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized, in 1845, the 
Methodist Episcopal church retired from the field, but entered it again in 
1848, with the following appointments: 


1848. Platte Mission district, Abraham Still, presiding elder: 

Wyandot, supplied. 

1849. Platte Mission district, Abraham Still, presiding elder: 

Indian mission, Thos. B. Markham, Paschal Fish. 

1850. No appointments for Kansas. 

1851. Platte mission, Geo. W. Roberts, presiding elder: 

Indian missions: Wyandot, Delaware, and Kickapoo, James Witten, 
Charles Ketchum. 

Shawnee, Henry Reeder, Paschal Fish. 

1852. Platte Mission district, G. W. Rains, presiding elder: 

Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawnee, A. Still, M. T. Klepper, Paschal 
Fish, Charles Ketchum. 

1853. Platte Mission district, J. H. Hopkins, presiding elder: 

Wyandot, Delaware and Shawnee missions, A. Still, J. M. Chivington, 
Paschal Fish, Charles Ketchum. 

1854. Kansas and Nebraska Mission district, W. H. Goode, presiding elder: 
Shawnee mission, W. H. Goode. 

Wyandot and Delaware, J. H. Dennis, Charles Ketchum, and one 
supply. 

1855. North Kansas Mission district, L. B. Dennis, presiding elder: 

Charles Ketchum and one supply. 

































72 


PROBABLY THE FIRST SCHOOL IN KANSAS [FOR WHITE 

CHILDREN. 

Written for the Kansas State Historical Society by Geo. P. Morehouse, of Council Grove. 



T710R several months a contest has been going- on through the newspapers of the state relative 

to when and where was held the first school for the education of young Kansans. It seems 
that some localities in Douglas and Leavenworth counties strive for the honor. Now that they 
have established their dates and places, “Historic Council Grove” comes into the contest and 
shows that it had a well-organized white school several years before Kansas was even a territory. 

This building was constructed in 1850, and the teacher was Judge T. S. Huffaker, who still 
lives near this city, close by the old mission building, in which the school was held. This date is 
several years prior to any date claimed by the other localities, and as we can produce the build¬ 
ing and the teacher who gives the living testimony the evidence is complete. Judge Huffaker 
and his wife last year celebrated the fifty-third anniversary of their wedding, which took place 
in this same old historic building on May 6,1852. Judge Huffaker came to Kansas in 1849 and has 
lived here ever since, and has probably resided in the state longer than any other living person, 
now that Col. A. S. Johnson is dead. 

In this article are produced 
the pictures of the old schoolhouse 
and the teacher, as he now looks, 
in his eighty-second year. The 
building was first constructed for 
a mission school for the Kaw or 
Kansas Indians, and Mr. Huffaker 
had it in charge for a number of 
years. The building is of stone, 
with two large fireplace chimneys 
in each gable. The walls are 
very thick, and the general ap¬ 
pearance of the structure is solid 
and quaint and the surroundings 
are romantic. Eighteen hundred 
and fifty, or fifty-six years ago, 
is a long way back in the history 
of Kansas, but this old building 
is still in good condition and is 
occupied as a dwelling. It has 
been used for many purposes, 
such as a schoolhouse, council- 
house, meeting-house, church- 
house, and during the Indian raids 
and scares of the old frontier days 
it was often the place of refuge 
and stronghold, to which the 
early settlers fled for safety. It 
might be added, in passing, that 
probably the first Sunday-school 
for white children in Kansas was 
also held in this building by this 
worthy couple. The first relig¬ 
ious meetings in this region were 
held in the building at a time 
when the next Western preach¬ 
ing appointment of the presiding 
elder was Denver, Colo. It will 

always be a noted shrine in this state, where early movements were started, and it is hoped it 
will be preersved for many years, for it is surely one of the most interesting buildings in Kansas. 
If it was closer to the center of the city it might be used for a library, museum, or art gallery, 
and thus preserved for many generations. 






v mk 


v V 




■ 


mm 


■«.;a 


mm 




, 






JUDGE T. S. HUFFAKER, 

The only surviving teacher of the Indian schools, still living 
at Council Grove, Kan., in his eighty-second year. 


Governor Reeder and staff and other territorial officers were entertained here when on their 
expedition to select a site for the capital of Kansas, and the uncertainty as to the title of the Kaw 
Indian lands surrounding this place only prevented Council Grove from being chosen. This old 



RAW INDIAN MISSION AT COUNCIL GROVE, ERECTED IN 1850 


73 















74 


building is right on the west bank of the beautiful Neosho, in the north part of the city, and is 
one of the most pleasant and attractive spots in this region. It will always be pointed out as one 
of the oldest and most historic buildings in Kansas, and the location of probably the first organ¬ 
ized white school in the state. Its priority is not a matter of a few months, for it antedates the 
claims of Leavenworth and Douglas counties four or five years. Tbe manner in which the white 
school was held in this place by Mr. Huffaker was as follows: The better element of the Kaws, 
or the pure Indian type of that wild tribe, refused to send their children to the mission school, 
but as a rule only allowed the orphans and a few dependents of the tribe to attend. They con¬ 
sidered it very degrading and a breach of true, old Indian dignity and aristocracy to adopt and 
follow the educational methods of their white brothers. 

Council Grove, even prior to the ’50’s, was a noted frontier outpost and gathering- place, and 
one of the earliest towns and trading-points on the Santa Fe trail in the state of Kansas, and had a 
considerable white population. The children of the government employees, mail and stage contrac¬ 
tors, traders, blacksmiths and other whites connected with Indian affairs and with the vast over¬ 
land commerce of the trail were without school privileges. What should be done? In May, 1851, 
Mr. T. S. Huffaker, whose time was not entirely taken up with his other duties, came to the res¬ 
cue and established a white-school department in this old building, and classes were formed 
with a dozen or fifteen white pupils. This is a larger attendance than reached by several dis¬ 
trict schools of this county even at the present time. For three or four years Mr. Huffaker in¬ 
structed these white pupils in the elementary school branches. The terms were not irregular 
and short, but continued through the year with only brief summer vacations. It was a free 
school, and it was a very commendable act on the part of Mr. Huffaker, and a great boon to the 
white children living so far out in the wilderness of the “Great American Desert.” 

We find, in looking over the claims of other Kansas schools, the following: Lawrence had a 
school organized in January, 1855, in the back office of Dr. Charles Robinson, in the Emigrant Aid 
building. It was taught by Edward P. Fitch (afterwards killed in the Quantrill raid ), who was 
paid by private subscriptions, and the term was three and a half months, with about twenty 
pupils attending." Leavenworth county 100 had an organized school in May, 1856, near Spring- 
dale. The schoolhouse was an abandoned settler’s cabin, and the teacher was V. K. Stanley, of 
Wichita, Kan. The “union school,” 101 with a term of three months, was three miles north of 
Lawrence, and was organized by Robert Allen in February, 1855. There is an account of a lady 
opening a school in her home near Lawrence in December, 1854, with her four children and three 
others of the neighbors, but as it only lasted for a part of a week it does not reach the status of a 
real school. 

The school held by Judge Huffaker in the above old building for the white children of this lo¬ 
cality was several years before Lawrence had an existence or the territory of Kansas was or¬ 
ganized, and was without doubt the initial movement of that Kansas spirit and ambition for a 
free and liberal education which have grown to such magnitude and perfection as to receive the 
praise and commendation of the educational forces of mankind. 

Council Grove has many unique and noted shrines of historic character about which cluster 
interesting and instructive early Kansas history and tradition, such as Council oak, Custer elm, 
Fremont park. Soldier hole, Belfry hill, old Kaw villages, Sunrise rock. Hermit’s cave, old trail 
buildings, famous old crossing, Padilla’s monument, on Mount Padilla, and others, but few are 
more prized or filled with more interest to our present generation than the “ old mission ” by the 
ford, within the strong, thick, stone walls of which were gathered over fifty years ago the first 
classes of the first organized white school that started the boys and girls of the “Sunflower” 
state on the royal road of a liberal education. 

Hon. Thomas Sears Huffaker, son of Rev. George Huffaker, was born in Clay county, Mis¬ 
souri, March 30, 1825. His parents were from Kentucky, moving to Missouri in 1820. He ob¬ 
tained his education in country district schools and in the Howard high school. In 1849, when 
Judge Huffaker was twenty-four years old, he moved to Kansas, and is at the present time 
probably the earliest living Kansas settler. 

At first he was employed in connection with the manual training school for Indians at 
Shawnee Mission, in Johnson county. He there began a career of active interest in Indian 
affairs and in the development of the state which has been highly honorable and interesting. In 

Note 99.— Cutler’s History of Kansas, 1883, p. 323, says the first school taught in Lawrence 
commenced January 16, 1855 ; Edward P. Fitch, teacher. See. also, Cordley’s History of Law¬ 
rence, 1895, p. 23. 

Note 100.—See Leavenworth Times, May 6,1900 : also clippings from Topeka Capital. More 
extended notices of these schools are found in clippings preserved in the Historical Society’s 
Collections. 

Note 101.—This appears to be the school on Reeder’s float, taught by Robert J. Allen. 

RD 12.8 





75 



1850 he came to Council Grove, at that time an important point on the Santa Fe trail and the 
capital of the Raw (or Kansas) Indians, whose reservation surrounded the town. Here he took 
charge of the Indian mission school which had just been organized under the auspices of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South, but supported by the United States government. On May 
6. 1852, he was married to Miss Eliza A. Baker by the Reverend Nicholson, a missionary on his 
way to old Mexico over the trail, who stopped at the mission. 

This was the first marriage in this region, 
and one of the first in the state. Mrs. Huf- 
faker was born in Illinois in 1836, and had 
lived in Iowa with her parents, where her 
father was blacksmith for the Sac and Fox 
Indians. Their living children are: Mary H. 

(Mrs. J. H. Simcock), Aggie C. ( Mrs. Louis 
Wysmeyer), Annie G. (Mrs. Fred B. Carpen¬ 
ter), George M., Homer, and Carl, and there 
are a dozen or more grandchildren. Judge 
Huffaker had charge of the Raw mission 
school till 1854, when it was abandoned. It 
was during these years (1850-’54) that he 
organized a school for white children in the 
old mission building, and he and his wife 
thus became probably the first school-teach¬ 
ers of white children in the state. At times 
he was manager of the Kansas Indian trad¬ 
ing-house, and at one time had charge of the 
farming interests of the tribe. He often 
held important positions in Indian affairs as 
a trusted agent, being a fluent linguist in not 
only the Raw dialect, but also in the Osage, 

Ponca, and others. Few men ever had more 
influence with the Raws than “Tah-poo- 
skah,” the name they gave him, by which he 
is even known to-day. It means teacher. 

Judge Huffaker was the first postmaster of 
Council Grove, and, July 24, 1858, chairman of the first board of county supervisors (now com¬ 
missioners), appointed by Acting Governor F. P. Stanton. 102 

He was one of the incorporators of the Council Grove Town Company. In the seventies he 
served twice in the Kansas legislature, 1874 and 1879, and has been probate judge of Morris 
county several times. From 1864 to 1871 he was regent of the State Normal School. He is a 
member of the Masonic fraternity and the Methodist Episcopal Church South, which was the 
first church organization in the county. While from a Southern family, he was loyal and stood 
for the Union during the war, and has been a trusted leader in the Republican party since that 
period. His experiences have been varied, and his active career has extended through preterri¬ 
torial, territorial and state periods, and to-day he takes an active part in public affairs, and is an 
authority on all historical matters. The judge and his worthy wife live in the same old home¬ 
stead they established so many years ago, and are enjoying good health, and have a large circle 
of friends in many states. They spent the last winter in St. Louis with a daughter. On the 6th 
of last May they celebrated the fifty-third anniversary of their wedding, and over 200 guests en¬ 
joyed the hospitality of the famous old homestead. Mr. Huffaker was a delegate from Morris 
county in the Republican state convention which met May 2, 1906. • 

The history of Kansas could not be correctly written without frequent and worthy mention 
of Judge Huffaker, for he is the oldest notable living settler in the state. 


MRS. ELIZA A. HUFFAKER. 


Note 102.— Thomas S. Huffaker also received three appointments from Governor Reeder: As 
judge of the eighth election district for first territorial election, November 29, 1854, for delegate 
to Congress ; March 30, 1855, for member of first territorial legislature ; May 22, 1855, to fill va¬ 
cancy in the council.— Kansas Historical Collections, vol. 3, pp. 233, 255, 275. He was also ap¬ 
pointed commissioner of election by Fred. P. Stanton, December 19, 1857.— Ibid., vol. 5, p. 460. 






76 


The following items relative to early schools in Kansas will be of general interest in connec¬ 


tion with this paper: 

Mrs. Bonnett, -vyhose letter follows, had inquired for the number of schools in Kansas at the 


time they came under territorial control, and the pay of teachers. 

“Mrs. W. H. Bonnett, Eureka, Kan.: January 22, 1906. 

“My Dear Madam — I regret to say that I find no compilation of statistics in regard to 
schools in Kansas prior to December, 1858, the time of publication of the first report of the terri¬ 
torial superintendent of public instruction. Although an act to provide for the establishment of 
common schools was passed by the first territorial legislature, in 1855, the disturbed condition of 
the territory and the inefficiency of the law rendered it ineffectual. 

“The first free-state legislature, in February, 1858, passed ‘An act providing for the organiza¬ 
tion, support and maintenance of common schools,’ including provision for a territorial superin¬ 
tendent. James H. Noteware, the first appointee under this act, published this law in pamphlet 
form some time later than the 2d of June, 1858 ; so we can probably use that date as the begin¬ 
ning of organized schools in Kansas. 

“I have examined county histories, ‘The History of Education in Kansas,’ 1893, and Cutler’s 
History, 1883, and find in them mention of at least seventy-six schools, though records are evi¬ 
dently so imperfect that it is impossible to state facts. For instance, the first report of the ter¬ 
ritorial superintendent, in January, 1859, states that sixteen school districts in Leavenworth 
county reported in December, 1858, while up to June, 1858, I can find mention of only two schools 
in the whole county. 

“ In Douglas county, in December, 1859, thirty-three schools were in operation, while I find but 


four in Douglas county in June, 1858. 

“As to the pay of teachers, the little town of Greeley, Anderson county, allowed the teacher 
thirty dollars per month in November, 1856, for a school of twelve pupils, the next winter adding 
free board among the students, who had increased to twenty. 

“In a union school in a country district four miles west of Lawrence, twenty dollars per 
month was paid in May, 1856, there being from twenty-five to thirty-one pupils. 

“At Manhattan, in 1857, forty-five dollars was paid for a teacher of sixteen pupils for three 
months. 

“The Rev. J. B. McAfee, in May, 1855, opened a school in the Lutheran church at Leavenworth, 
of which he was the pastor, charging primary pupils five dollars and advanced ten dollars for 
twelve weeks’ school. Later, in 1857, he opened a similar school at Valley Falls, in Jefferson 
county. 

“In the city of Leavenworth, in October, 1859, there were five schools, in three buildings ; a 
man and woman teaching in each building, and receiving for their combined labors $1000 an¬ 
nually. 

“Trusting this will be satisfactory, I remain, yours very truly. Geo. W. Martin.” 


“ J. M. Armstrong taught the first free school in the territory, which was opened July 1, 
1844. The building was a frame one, with double doors, which but a few years since stood on the 
east side of Fourth street, between Kansas and Nebraska avenues, Wyandotte city [now Kansas 
City, Kan.] It was sometimes, but erroneously, called the council-house. J. M. Armstrong con¬ 
tracted to build it, and commenced teaching on the date named. The council of the nation met 
in it during vacations or at night. The expenses of building the school were met out of the fund 
secured by the Wyandot treaty of March, 1842. The school was managed by directors appointed 
by the council, the members of which were elected annually by the people. White children were 
admitted free. Mr. Armstrong taught until 1845, when he went to Washington as the legal rep¬ 
resentative of the nation to prosecute their claims. Rev. Mr. Cramer, of Indiana, succeeded 
him ; then Robert Robitaille, chief of the nation ; next Rev. R. Parrott, Indiana; Mrs. Arm¬ 
strong, December, 1847, to March, 1848; Miss Anna H. Ladd, who came with the Wyandots in 
1843 ; and Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong. . . . The school was closed in the old building April 16, 
1852 ; resumed in Mrs. Armstrong’s dining-room ; removed the next winter to the Methodist 
Episcopal church, three-quarters of a mile west of her house, and left without a home when that 
structure was burned by incendiaries, April 8, 1856.”—Cutler’s History of Kansas, 1883, p. 1228. 
See, also, Mrs. Armstrong’s account of the school, on same page. 

A pioneer school on Reeder’s float, two and one-half miles northwest of Lawrence, com¬ 
menced May 10, 1855. The teachers were Robert J. Allen and, later, James F. Legate.—Letters 
from G. W. W. Yates, in Historical Society’s manuscript collections ; see, also, Wyandotte Chief, 
March 12-July 23, 1884, 

J. B. McAfee, in his autobiography, in Historical Society’s manuscript collections, says: 
“May 14, 1855, he founded the Leavenworth Collegiate Institute, the first school in Kansas, In¬ 
dian missions and government forts excepted. He taught school during the week. . . . The 
school was in a flourishing condition when he turned it over, in July, 1856, to Professor Strong, 
an accomplished teacher.”—See, also, Cutler’s History of Kansas, 1883, p. 432. 

J. B. McAfee, in his autobiography, says: “ . . . On May 13 [1855] assisted in organizing 
the first Sabbath-school in Kansas after the organization of the territory.”—See, also. Cutler’s 
History of Kansas, 1883, p. 314, for account of first Bible class formed in Lawrence, October, 1854. 
Cordley’s History of Lawrence, 1895, p. 23, gives an account of this and also of first Sunday- 
school organized in Lawrence, in January, 1855, 
































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